Devin Booker always returns to the world, but Jokic's energy is bottomless. This quote is probably the best interpretation of the semifinals of the Suns and Nuggets. The Nuggets led 2-0 in the first two games, Paul was injured, and the Suns relied on the terrible hands of Booker and Durant.
I didn't write about either game because I knew the Nuggets still had a big advantage even though the score was 2-2. Booker and Durant's hands can't last forever, basketball isn't a computer game, and Jokic can always maintain an MVP-level level.
In the second half of Tianwang Mountain, Booker's hot hand finally ended, and the shooting percentage of 3-of-11 made the Suns no longer able to keep up with the Nuggets' offensive rhythm. In that game, Durant shot 10-of-24 and Booker 8-of-19, adding up to 18-of-43 shooting, and the Suns lost by 18 points.
18-of-43 shooting is average, but you have to know that Booker's G3 and G4 combined shot 34-of-43 from the field, scoring 83 points in both games. When Booker can no longer maintain (and certainly can't) that efficiency, the Suns will have a hard time competing with the Nuggets.
Before the G6 game, bad news was once again reported within the Suns. In addition to Paul's still inability to play, Ayton was also absent due to a rib contusion. Although Ayton contributed a lot of "soft" famous scenes in the first few games, it is only when Ayton is not there that you realize his importance.
Although Ayton can't prevent Jokic, he can at least make Jokic play eight successes per game. But if only the inside linemen of Randale and Biyombo are allowed to face Jokic, Jokic played 12% of his strength in today's game.
With Ayton gone, the Suns' defense collapsed directly, and you can't expect Durant to contribute a decent rim guard every turn. Payne's excellent feel only delayed the Suns' death, and at the end of the first quarter, the Nuggets were 17-0, essentially sentencing the Suns to death.
Looking back at this 17-0 wave, Jokic once again went into a freewheeling state, and no one on the Suns side could match him. The Nuggets are fast attacking the clouds and flowing water, relying on a pop rush, the sun can't stand it.
At halftime, the Suns scored 51 points and the Nuggets 81, repeating the nightmare of Suns fans in last year's playoffs. Last year, Doncic single-handedly knocked out the Suns in the first half, leading by 30 points at halftime. This year, Suns home fans once again experienced a sense of despair, and it was a European fat man who crushed them.
Jokic had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists in the half, shooting 10-of-12 from the field and outscoring the Suns by 32 points in court time; Durant shot 2 of 11 from the half, 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and lost 13 points to the Nuggets in time on the floor.
The playoffs are always the best platform to evaluate a player, no matter how choppy Durant scored in the regular season, and his average points per game are not much different from his peak. In the playoffs, his scoring ability will still decline in the face of playoff-level defensive intensity, and it will decline more than a little.
To be honest, if it weren't for Booker's G3G4's supergod, the Nuggets would have swept the sun long ago, and there was no suspense. Durant's weight in this series is no longer the one who can determine the direction of the series.
When Durant joined the Suns, many people immediately put the Suns in the first tier of championship competition, and ABCD's foursome looked good. But among them, Durant is in decline, Paul is celebrating his 38th birthday, and Ayton still has cleanliness.
More importantly, Durant's arrival has also made the Suns lose forwards like Bridges and Cameron Johnson, and the Suns' bench is not good, and another cut is even worse. In the playoffs, these flaws were infinitely magnified and eventually eliminated by the Nuggets.
To win two games against the Nuggets, the Suns are already playing well. Although the life and death battle was lost so badly, it was enough to hold your head high and leave. It's just that this result must be different from their psychological expectations.
Going to the Suns is Durant's own choice, because of various factors, Durant entered the playoffs before the Suns played a few games, and the haste showed that Monty's tuning of this team was far from enough.
The good news is that Durant has a few years left on his contract, and with Durant's style of play, he will still be stable at 25+ next season. But this lineup of the Suns is already showing fatigue, and they still have a lot to do over the summer.
Chris Paul spent the last game of his 18th career on the bench without the ring on his hand. Many people say that Paul doesn't have that kind of life, and I also think that Paul's best window for winning the championship has long been closed, and even Paul himself may feel that there are not many opportunities.
But never use the word "failure" to define Paul's career, success is only temporary, failure may be the main theme of each of our lives.
Many people may never have taken the first place in their lives, failed to get into their ideal school in the college entrance examination, did not find a satisfactory job after graduating from college, and did not catch up with the girl they have a crush on.
But we have not come step by step, in the process of failure after failure, we learn to face failure, learn to come out of failure. Paul's career is full of so-called failures, but he has also come here step by step, and he himself has not given up, how can he talk about failure lightly.
If Paul's fate remains the same at the end of his career, I believe Paul can accept it calmly.