The Denver Nuggets on Thursday crushed the Phoenix Suns 125-100 to become the first team to reach the NBA conference finals as the Boston Celtics forced a decisive Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Western Conference top seeds Denver dominated from start to finish in Phoenix as they polished off the Suns 4-2 in their best-of-seven conference semi-final.
The Nuggets reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the COVID-19 “bubble” in Florida in 2020 and face either reigning champions Golden State or the Los Angeles Lakers, who hold a 3-2 lead in their series.
Photo: Joe Camporeale-USA Today
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic delivered his third triple-double of the series, scoring 32 points with 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
Jokic said the Nuggets shrugged off the idea of a “hostile environment” at the Footprint Center and played with “the same mindset that we are playing with at home — just be aggressive, move them from the spots, make them make tough shots, and I think we did that.”
The Nuggets silenced the Phoenix crowd as they dominated virtually every facet of the game on the way to an 81-51 halftime lead — which sparked a smattering of boos from the home spectators.
Jamal Murray, who was questionable to start because of illness, scored 26 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21 for Denver, who outscored the Suns 62-46 in the paint, outrebounded them 41-29 and had 18 second-chance points to the Suns’ seven.
Cameron Payne drilled seven of nine three-pointers on the way to 31 points for Phoenix. Kevin Durant added 23 and Devin Booker 12.
With veteran point guard Chris Paul missing a fourth straight game with a groin injury and center Deandre Ayton ruled out with a rib injury, the Suns endured another embarrassing exit after last year’s elimination on their home floor by the Dallas Mavericks.
Durant was not around for that one, having arrived in February via a blockbuster trade with Brooklyn, but he did not enjoy this year’s version.
“It sucked,” the two-time NBA champion said. “It was a bad feeling. It was embarrassing. They came out and hit us in the mouth, and we couldn’t recover.”
In Philadelphia, Jayson Tatum scored 16 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Celtics held off the 76ers 95-86 to level their Eastern Conference semi-final at 3-3.
The Boston forward had made just one of 14 attempts from the floor when he erupted with four three-pointers in the final period as the Celtics thwarted Philadelphia’s comeback bid.
Joel Embiid had 26 points with 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, but James Harden scored just 13 on four-of-13 shooting.
Tatum, who averaged 30.1 points per game in the regular season, said he never lost confidence even as he struggled.
“I’m, humbly, one of the best basketball players in the world,” Tatum told ESPN in an on-court interview of maintaining his confidence. “Thankfully, I’ve got some great teammates that held it down... They tell me: ‘Keep taking great looks, it’s going to fall.’”
“All that mattered was we won this game,” said Tatum, who also had seven rebounds, six assists, a steal and two blocked shots. “It’s Game 7, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Marcus Smart led the Celtics with 22 points. Jaylen Brown added 17 and Malcolm Brogdon scored 16 off the bench.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS