Devin Booker, Suns sweep way to Western Conference Finals

Devin Booker and the Suns are four wins away from the NBA Finals. With Sunday night’s 125-118 win over the Nuggets, Phoenix completed their four-game sweep of Denver and advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 11 years.

Booker had 34 points and 11 rebounds in the clinching win, a testy contest that the Suns led nearly wire to wire. Chris Paul had a monster game, looking like the CP3 of old with 37 points on 14-19 shooting. It was the most points in any game for Paul — playoffs or regular season — in more than three years. If the Suns can beat the Jazz-Clippers winner, it would mean the first Finals appearance in Paul’s Hall of Fame career.

The game turned late in the third quarter, when Denver star Nikola Jokic, the freshly crowned NBA Most Valuable Player, was ejected for a hard foul on former Murray State Racer Cameron Payne. Booker immediately took offense to the blow and took up for his teammate, getting right in the MVP’s face and exchanging words until they were separated. It was initially ruled a double technical foul on the two of them before officials went to the monitor and upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 (automatic ejection) for Jokic.

Jokic got ejected after this hard foul on Payne 😯 pic.twitter.com/EvG1Dfvuub

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 14, 2021

”It was just an emotional play,” Booker said after the game. ”I don’t think he meant harm by it. It was just a frustration foul. It was tough, just defending my teammate. That was it.”

The Suns took control from that point onward, with Booker and Paul both dominating offensively. Booker’s two highest scoring games in the playoffs have both been in close-out efforts, as he scored 34 in this one and 47 in their Game 6 win over the Lakers.

Phoenix’s average margin of victory in their four-game sweep of the Nuggets was 16 points.

“I’ve been waiting on this for a really long time.” @DevinBook checked in with @SHAQ after sweeping the Nuggets. pic.twitter.com/U4ZtwS8wWH

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 14, 2021

Denver was led by 25 points from Will Barton and 22 and 11 from Jokic before his ejection. They made an impressive run without last year’s breakout star, Jamal Murray, who underwent season-ending surgery for a torn ACL in early April. Before his injury, Murray was having a career year with 21.2 points per game and a 41% shooting clip from outside. A timetable for his return has not been announced, but he is expected to be back at some point next season.

The Suns have now won a franchise-record seven straight playoff games, and they improved to 8-2 overall in the first postseason run of Booker’s young career. They’ll play the winner of the Jazz-Clippers series, which tips off its Game 4 tonight with Utah leading two games to one.