Kevin Durant was straight to the point when asked about the Phoenix Suns’ slow start en route to a season-ending, 25-point loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“It sucked. It was a bad feeling. It was embarrassing,” Durant told reporters after Game 6. “They came out and hit us in the mouth and we couldn’t recover.”
Denver jumped out to a 44-26 lead after the first quarter and didn’t look back. Jokic was once again the catalyst, tallying 14 points, five assists, four rebounds, one steal, and one block in the opening frame.
The game was virtually over at halftime as the Suns trailed by 30 points, equalling the same deficit through 24 minutes as last season’s Game 7 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.
Durant and co-star Devin Booker managed a combined 35 points on just 12-of-32 shooting to go along with six turnovers. Entering Thursday’s contest, both players were averaging over 30 points apiece in the second round.
Durant gave all the credit to Jokic, who finished with 32 points, 12 assists, 10 boards, three steals, and one block. It was the two-time MVP’s fifth career 30-point playoff triple-double, which is more than every center in NBA history combined, according to StatMuse.
“I always knew how great he was … I wasn’t surprised at all,” Durant said. “Jokic is an all-time great. He’ll go down as one of the all-time great centers that ever touched a basketball. So he went out there and did what he was supposed to do.”
Jokic also joined LeBron James and Russell Westbrook as the only players to average a 30-point triple-double over an entire postseason series.
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