Los Angeles (USA), Apr 25 (EFE).- With an absolutely explosive Devin Booker (47 points, 25 of them in the third quarter), the Phoenix Suns qualified this Tuesday for the Western semifinals (4- 1) by eliminating the Los Angeles Clippers (136-130) who, without the injured Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, signed another disappointing season.
The Phoenix guard had already sealed two major performances in this series (38 points in the second game and 45 in the third), but tonight he outdid himself with a wonderful scoring recital.
Booker dazzled with 19 of 27 shooting, touched the triple-double with 8 rebounds and 10 assists and was also the person in charge of a brutal third quarter that destroyed the Angelenos (50-24).
This impressive display helped Booker surpass Charles Barkley as the Phoenix player with the most games over 40 points in the playoffs.
Kevin Durant contributed 31 points in a Suns that will be measured in the next round against Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, who on Tuesday beat the Minnesota Timberwolves also 4-1.
Not all were good signs for Phoenix as Monty Williams’s team once again exhibited great irregularities, so much so that in the last quarter the Clippers had several possessions to tie the score or take the lead after trailing by 20 points.
In these very dignified Clippers but ultimately powerless against Booker, the benchmark in attack was Norman Powell (27 points) while Russell Westbrook touched the triple-double (14 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists) but had a denied night facing the hoop ( 3 of 18 shooting) and turned over 5 balls.
Seven of the nine players the Clippers used tonight had at least 10 points.
Since Kawhi and George joined the Clippers in 2019 with the ring as their only objective, the team owned by Steve Ballmer has done nothing but chain disappointments on a path also marked by an ordeal of injuries.
In the ‘bubble’ of 2020 they failed against the Denver Nuggets despite winning 3-1, in 2021 Kawhi tore his cruciate ligament and the Suns sent them to the street, in 2022 -without Kawhi throughout the season and George also between cotton- they did not pass the play-in and this year the injuries have returned to torment the Clippers.
Thus, George has missed 31 games and has not played since mid-March, while Kawhi was absent in 33 and was only able to play the first two games of the series against Phoenix.
BOOKER DECIDE
Despite all the obstacles they have encountered, the Clippers have remained an extremely competitive and serious group in every game.
Game 5 was no exception and Powell (11 points in the first quarter) and Ivica Zubac (8) took on the offensive weight of Tyronn Lue’s men at the start.
Booker, with 10 points, gave the answer in a local team with the automatic pilot and in the first quarter the balance of forces prevailed (32-30).
The visiting bench shone in the second quarter with the likes of Bones Hyland stepping up as the Suns displayed a lack of defensive commitment and a massive lack of intensity.
Thus, the Clippers went to the locker room with an advantage (61-70) after scoring 21 points on second chances.
Booker returned in the third quarter with a single mission: to dunk the rival rim over and over again.
With an exquisite display of offensive resources, the escort despaired of some Clippers, who could not do anything to avoid a real hit-and-run.
Thus, this utterly lethal version of Booker racked up 25 points in that quarter on an astounding 10-of-11 shooting (3-of-4 3-pointer) and 2-of-2 from the foul line.
Booker’s outburst took the Suns from -7 at halftime to +17 before the fourth quarter (111-94) against Clippers who seemed inert.
Nothing is further from reality.
The Californian team returned to the charge once again with pride, exploited the usual disconnections of these Suns as fearsome as they are inconsistent and stood just 3 points after stringing three triples from Powell, Terance Mann and Nico Batum (128-125 with 3.19 to be played).
The Clippers had a layup from Westbrook to tie the game and a three-pointer from Batum to take the lead but they lacked that bit of extra inspiration to finish off the comeback against a nervous Suns on every play.
In the end, two turnovers by Powell and Westbrook opened the way to victory for the Suns who closed the tie with 4 points from Durant in the last minute.
David Villafranca
