The Phoenix Suns should’ve cruised to victory after Devin Booker’s “spiritual” 25-point third quarter as so appropriately described by Kevin Durant.
The sellout crowd of 17, 071 at Footprint Center couldn’t contain itself watching Booker put on a biblical performance that ended with tying his playoff career-high – and the Suns nearly losing Game 5.
Up by as many as 20 points early in the fourth quarter, Phoenix was a Nicolas Batum 3 away from trailing late in a closeout game that should’ve never, ever come down to that.
The fourth-seeded Suns flat-out escaped, 136-130, to advance to the Western Conference semifinals for a third straight year behind Booker’s 47-point kaboom that the Clippers nearly ruined.
Durant scored 31 with a sore behind after taking a hard fall on a foul from his former Thunder teammate, Russell Westbrook.
Deandre Ayton posted a fourth straight double-double in this series with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Chris Paul added 15 points.
Norman Powell paced the game Clippers with 27 points and Mason Plumlee racked up a double-double off the bench of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Here are five takeaways as Game 1 of the Suns-Nuggets conference semifinals is set for Saturday at either 5:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. at Ball Arena in Denver.
All Booker, all day and night
Booker is an improved playmaker, defender and took some steps deeper into the superstar realm in this series – but at his core, he’s a scorer.
Once he went on that personal 8-0 run to break a tie score, hitting back-to-back shots after the midway point in the third, he had that takeover look.
And it turned out the Suns needed every point.
Think about this.
Booker not only outscored the Clippers by himself in the quarter, 25-24, in scoring half of the 50 points that set a franchise record for most points in a postseason quarter, he did it on 10-of-11 shooting, but only four of those attempts were from long range.
He made three of those, by the way, but Paul was impressed with Booker’s passing. His cross-court pass to Durant for 3 got Booker so excited, he was pointing at the bench.
He is playing at an elite level that has been partly a result of playing with Durant.
As Deandre Ayton said, expectations are higher with Durant, and Booker has accepted, welcomed, embraced and taken on the challenge with a raised level of force and competitive drive.
Plus, Durant draws so much attention, Booker is seeing open driving lanes and areas that usually are shut down by defenses designed to stop him.
Durant deserves credit, but Booker proved to be the best player in this series.
More: Devin Booker ties playoff career high with 47 as Suns advance to face Nuggets in semifinals
‘Being honest too’ about Booker’s minutes
Suns coach Monty Williams understood it was an honest question, but he was well within his right to respond in the manner he did when asked about Booker starting the fourth quarter on the bench.
“Isn’t it how it is,” Williams said. “It’s like I play him too much and now I’m not playing him enough.”
When the reporter said it was an honest question, Williams replied, “I know, but I’m being honest, too.”
Here’s the deal.
Booker should’ve been able to rest the entire fourth quarter because Phoenix was up 20. He earned that after having a splendid first-round series and playing 174 total minutes in the first four games of the series.
Yes, the Clippers play hard and don’t quit, but they were down their two best players, injured Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Paul George (knee), and were down 20 and on the road.
All the Suns had to do was defend and it’s a wrap.
They didn’t. Period.
Four straight 3s for L.A. and more
The Clippers caught fire in hitting four straight 3s to make the difference three with 3:19 left in the game, leaving the Suns wondering how they put themselves in this situation.
Here’s the answer: Phoenix tried to trade 3s with the Clippers and missed three in a row with Booker, Paul and Josh Okogie each misfiring. The Suns shot 50% (13-of-26) from 3.
It’s understandable they’d jack up 3s, but that strategy at that moment nearly cost them.
Back to the minutes deal.
Booker and Durant are going to have to play heavy minutes for Phoenix to win a title. There’s no getting around this unless Phoenix can close out games better, something it didn’t really do well the entire series.
Even in the double-digit wins, Phoenix led by only six with 3:13 left in the fourth quarter of Game 2 and six with 4:30 remaining in Game 4.
A lot of it is the bench. The Suns averaged just 14.4 points off the bench in this series. They did get a series-high 22 out of it in Game 5, but Okogie scored 11.
The Suns needed that as Craig went scoreless in 17 minutes and on one shot attempt.
More: Devin Booker, Kevin Durant pass playoff intensity test against Clippers
Suns’ bench saga continues
Craig started the series on fire with a playoff career-high 22 in Game 1, but his scoring digressed as the series progressed – 17 in Game 2, 15 in Game 3, 8 in Game 4 and 0 in Game 5.
Craig may remain in the starting lineup against Denver to match up with, say, the active Aaron Gordon, but Okogie played 33 minutes in Game 5.
Bismack Biyombo and Okogie are the two constants off the bench. Everyone else is a wild card right now with Cameron Payne being the biggest one. He returned after missing five games with low back soreness.
The Suns need someone to give them consistent offensive punch off the bench. Landry Shamet perhaps. Damion Lee maybe – or two bucket-getters in Terrence Ross and T.J. Warren.
Ross and Warren aren’t in the rotation right now because they’re not tied in defensively. If one gets a chance in the Nuggets series and isn’t a liability on defense, that could be the wild card in Phoenix’s favor.
More: Here’s the Suns’ Western Conference semifinals schedule against Denver Nuggets
Again, too much offense
Finally, the Clippers gave a valiant effort, but once Leonard started missing games, this series was over.
Russell Westbrook reminded folks of how great a player he is in these playoffs, but ended the series the way he started it, with a poor shooting effort – 3-of-18 (1-of-6 from 3).
The Clippers needed him to channel his performances in the middle games to even have a chance in Game 5.
Eric Gordon let them down after scoring 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting in Game 1. He scored a total of 32 points in the next four games on 11-of-30 shooting.
The bench did what it does, but when predicting how this series would unfold, the Suns came into it with too much offense even with a healthy Leonard.
They left averaging 122 points.
Enough said. See you in Denver.
More: The Republic’s writers explain what Suns must do to win Game 1 vs. Nuggets
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant praises Devin Booker’s ‘spiritual’ 25-point 3rd quarter in win over Clippers