The Kevin Durant trade in February limited Phoenix’s depth. It also left the Suns vulnerable in case someone got injured. That someone is Chris Paul, and now the Suns are down 0-2 to the Nuggets. DougHaller on what has to change.
This seems odd considering Durant is averaging 27.9 points in seven postseason contests. But the 13-time All-Star was brought here to win games in the fourth quarter. He has been good. Great at times. His presence has opened opportunities for others, but he’s had troubling moments in this series. In Game 1, he had 29 points and 14 rebounds but also seven turnovers.
In Game 2, Durant had 24 points and eight rebounds, but he shot just 10 of 27. He made 2 of 12 from 3-point range. With Paul in the locker room, Denver chipped away at Phoenix’s lead, but the Suns still led 73-70 entering the fourth quarter. They still had a chance to even the series. But without Paul, the Suns failed to find a rhythm.Down 84-81 with 4 minutes left, Booker and Durant missed 3s that would’ve knotted the contest. Energized, the Nuggets scored seven in a row to push the lead to 10.
“He just missed a ton of shots,” Williams said. “But we got a lot of the shots we wanted. He and Book took most of the shots, we just didn’t shoot a great percentage.” Not long after his Phoenix arrival, Durant would enter a postgame news conference and bring up three or four shots he should have made. In two games against Denver, he’s shooting 47.9 percent, which is respectable. But he’s 3 of 15 from 3, which is alarming. He’s also attempted only six free throws.This was winnable. The Suns had corrected a lot of their Game 1 issues. Defensively, they held Denver, which had averaged 116 points in the playoffs, to under 100.
They just couldn’t hit shots. After getting outscored by 27 points from the 3-point arc in Game 1, the Suns emphasized their long-range shooting entering Game 2. They got good looks, especially from the corner. Nothing went down. Booker was 4 of 8 from deep. The rest of the team was 2 of 23.
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