The Suns have now won seven straight games, and appear to be playing their best basketball of the season at the right time.
If Jamal Murray was healthy for the series, perhaps it would have gone differently, but without him Denver just didn’t have the firepower to keep up with Phoenix.
With the game, and the series, still hanging in the balance, Paul turned back the clock and submitted one of his best-ever postseason performances.
Paul was especially lethal in the second half.
Over a decade and a half into his career, Paul still appears to be near the peak of his powers, and he’s an enormous part of the reason why the Suns are now just foiur wins away from their first NBA Finals appearance in nearly three decades.
He averaged career highs across the board — 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 8.3 assists in 34.6 minutes per performance — while playing in all 72 regular-season games and leading the Nuggets to the third seed in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
With that play, Jokic became just the second current MVP to be ejected from a playoff game in the last 25 years.
Obviously, it was far from an ideal ending to what was an otherwise extremely memorable campaign for Jokic, but that shouldn’t take away from how solid he was all season.
But, I think the whole team needs to walk out with our head up.
The Suns won three straight games in the first round to take down the Lakers, and then they just won four straight games to sweep the Nuggets.
For what it’s worth, the Suns won just one out of three games against the Clippers during the regular season, but won all three of their meetings with the Jazz.
Paul made 6 mid range jumpers in the third, which is tied for the most by any player in a playoff quarter over the last 20 seasons.