NBA semifinal: Devin Booker, Kevin Durant pull Suns level with Nuggets
Devin Booker
Devin Booker shot 14- for- 18 and registered 12 assists while Durant added 11 rebounds and six assists as fourth- seeded Phoenix won its alternate straight game.
Devin Booker and Kevin Durant scored 36 points all and Landry Shamet buried four 3- pointers in the fourth quarter as the Phoenix Suns recorded a 129- 124 palm over the visiting Denver Nuggets on Sunday night to indeed its Western Conference semifinals at two games all.
Booker shot 14- for- 18 and registered 12 assists while Durant added 11 rebounds and six assists as fourth- seeded Phoenix won its alternate straight game. Shamet came a surprise idol off the bench by scoring 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Nikola Jokic scored 53 points, his career stylish in the postseason or the regular season, and had 11 assists for top- seeded Denver. He hit 20 of 30 field- thing attempts.
Jamal Murray contributed 28 points and seven assists and Michael PorterJr. added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets. Game 5 of the best- of- seven series is listed for Tuesday in Denver. The home platoon has won every game so far.
The Suns was without stager point guard Chris Paul( groin) for the alternate straight game. Booker and Durant combined for 72 points on Sunday after teaming up for 86 in Phoenix’s Game 3 palm on Friday.
In Game 4, Denver crept within 121- 118 on Jokic’s three- point play and Aaron Gordon’s tip- heft with 145 remaining. Durant made two free throws with 127 left to push the periphery to five before Murray hit a short muumuu 19 seconds latterly.
Phoenix’sT.J. Warren sank two free throws with22.4 seconds remaining and Durant added two with13.7 seconds left as the Suns pushed the lead to 127- 120 before closing it out. Phoenix made56.8 percent of its field- thing attempts and was 13 of 29(44.8 percent) from behind the bow.
Shamet, who did n’t indeed play in Game 2, was 5 of 8 from long range. Shamet started his hot fourth quarter with two treys in a span of 58 seconds to help the Suns take a 108- 100 lead with 735 remaining.
He made another with 648 left to make it a nine- point periphery. Nearly two twinkles latterly, Shamet buried a 3- pointer from the corner to give Phoenix a 116- 106 advantage with 456 remaining. Denver shot56.2 percent from the field, including 7 of 22(31.8 percent) from 3- point range.
Gordon scored 11 points for the Nuggets. Jokic put up 18 points in the third quarter for the Nuggets– including 13 straight Denver points during one stretch– and Booker had 17 on 6- of- 6 firing for the Suns.
Phoenix closed with an 11- 4 burst as Booker drained two treys in the final nanosecond, giving the Suns a 98- 92 lead entering into the fourth.
Durant had 21 points and Booker had 19 as the Suns led 63- 61 at halftime. Jokic scored 24 before the break for Denver.
