The Phoenix Suns faced elimination on Thursday in a Game 6 matchup against the Denver Nuggets. They certainly needed a big game from star players Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to force a Game 7. That certainly didn’t happen, instead getting an embarrassing effort from them in the biggest moment.
Durant and Booker both got off to an extremely slow start that ended up costing them the game.
They combined for just 19 points in the first half while just shooting 6-23 from the field. More importantly, they were pretty much out of the game by halftime. The Nuggets scored 81 points in the first half and held a 30-point lead heading into the locker room.
Kevin Durant:
8 Points – 2/11 FGMDevin Booker:
11 Points – 4/12 FGMPhoenix down 30 at halftime. 😳 pic.twitter.com/gprUu2hUxV
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 12, 2023
Durant scored 15 second-half points to finish with 23 points in the game, but it made no impact on the end result. The Nuggets cruised to a 125-100 victory to eliminate the Suns from the playoffs.
The loss is obviously on more than just Booker and Durant, but they received a large amount of criticism from the NBA world for their poor play on Thursday night.
Phoenix suns really added Kevin Durant to their roster just to lose the same way they did in game 7 last year😭😭 pic.twitter.com/gDZvr4qDIH
— Raps gen⛈️ (@RaptorsGen) May 12, 2023
Kevin Durant got his rings. He's made his money. He doesn't really care that much about winning any more.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 12, 2023
Kevin Durant’s career without Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/vWOSYNS3GV
— Shepherd’s Sport (@NathanS_Sports) May 12, 2023
Devin Booker in elimination games
14.0 PPG
4.0 TOV
30% FG
7% 3P
– 84
0 – 3Plz don’t compare him to Luka ever again. pic.twitter.com/0GHXp7yeMl
— MavsMuse (@MavsMuse) May 12, 2023
Devin Booker's last two elimination games:
Game 6 vs Denver:
12 points
4/13 FGGame 7 vs Dallas:
11 points
3/14 FG pic.twitter.com/6Z1yGzzx6X— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) May 12, 2023
The Suns going out like this is not surprising when you saw them playing Kevin Durant and Devin Booker 45 minutes per game in dog fights with a Clippers team missing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) May 12, 2023
Both Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton being out certainly didn’t help the Suns’ cause in this matchup. Regardless, you would like to see both Durant and Booker play much better in a game with such high stakes.
The Suns were largely seen as NBA Championship favorites after trading for Kevin Durant. They obviously fell short, and one has to wonder what would have happened if they still had valuable depth pieces like Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson instead of Durant.
