Injured Devin Booker leaves game late, Suns fall in OT to Nuggets
Booker #Booker
The Phoenix Suns fell to Denver in overtime, 130-126, Friday night at Phoenix Suns Arena — and lost their best player.
All-Star Devin Booker left the game with 1:54 left in overtime with what appeared to be a left leg injury as he was grabbing at the hamstring area.
The game was tied 122-122 in overtime. Booker finished with 31 points, five rebounds and five assists. Nikola Jokic scored a game-high 31 points and added 10 rebounds and eight assists in leading Denver (8-7) to their seventh win in last 10 games.
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Down three late in overtime, Chris Paul set up Cameron Payne, who came into the game for Booker, for an open 3, but Payne elected to drive and turned the ball over trying to feed Deandre Ayton with 15.5 seconds left.
Phoenix finished the game with 16 turnovers that led to 22 Denver points. The Nuggets scored an insane 80 points in the paint.
Will Barton later hit two free throws to give Denver a 128-123 lead with 10.7 seconds left. Paul answered with 3, but Barton connected on two more free throws to mark the game’s final points scored with 6.4 seconds left.
The Suns (8-6) led 108-104 with 3:59 left in regulation off Booker’s layup. Nuggets end the fourth on a 10-6 spurt, but both teams missed chances to win game in regulation.
Jokic missed a corner 3 that led to a transition opportunity for Phoenix, but Booker was unable to finish a layup with Monte Morris defending with 25.9 seconds left.
Then Murray misfired on a 19-foot jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining as Paul’s 51-foot heave fell just short of the rim at the buzzer.
The Suns and Nuggets will meet again Saturday in the second of a home back-to-back for Phoenix. Phoenix won at Denver, 106-103, on New Year’s Day.
Saturday will be the final regular-season game between the two.
Phoenix led 68-54 at halftime as 14 was its biggest lead of the game. Booker had 19 points, Bridges tallied 17 as he went 5-of-5 on 3s and Ayton had 12 on 6-of-7 shooting.
The Suns had a stretch in which they made six straight threes in the second quarter.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Injured Devin Booker leaves game late, Suns fall in OT to Nuggets