It’s like Déjà vu for the Phoenix Suns and their fans Thursday night at home against the Denver Nuggets.
Phoenix is facing elimination in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The team had to go up against two-time NBA Nikola Jokic and Co. shorthanded. Both Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul are sidelined for the elimination game.
That’s no excuse what we saw from Monty Williams’ squad in the first half of the game. Denver went on a 17-0 run to end the first quarter, taking a 44-27 lead into the second 12 minutes. Things continued to spiral out of control for Phoenix as it fell down by the score of 81-51 at the half.
It was in last season’s Western Conference Semifinals that the Phoenix Suns had an opportunity to advance. They hosted Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7. Phoenix also found itself down 30 points at the half in that matchup before losing 123-90.
One year later, and we’re witnessing the same thing. The primary characters might be different to an extent with Kevin Durant teaming up with Devin Booker instead of Ayton and Paul. But the results were the same.
As for Thursday night’s game, it was an absolute disaster class for the Phoenix Suns in front of their home crowd. It led to boo birds ringing down from the stands inside Footprint Center as halftime hit.
How bad were the first 24 minutes for Phoenix? Nuggets forward Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led all scorers with 21 points while connecting on 7-9 nine shots.
Kevin Durant? Well, he’s not really chilling too much. The two-time NBA Finals MVP hit on 2-of-11 from the field for eight points. He also turned the ball over two times. In the midst of a brilliant playoff run, Devin Booker hit on 4-of-12 from the field in the first half.
Denver put up 81 points in the first 24 minutes on 61.7% shooting. Phoenix connected on just 40% of its shots with 10 assists and eight turnovers.
Yeah, Phoenix Suns fans are more than right to be booing this team. What a disastrous performance.
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