Getty Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant
After the Phoenix Suns lost to the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals at home, Kevin Durant spoke about the blowout loss.
The Suns lost Game 6 by a final score of 125-100.
“Yeah, it sucked,” Durant said. “It was a bad feeling. It was embarrassing. They came out and hit us in the mouth. We couldn’t recover. You gotta give them credit for being a disciplined team.”
The Nuggets outscored the Suns 44-26 in the first quarter and never looked back. Durant finished Game 6 with 23 points, five rebounds, five assists and four turnovers in 37 minutes while shooting 8-of-19 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. The two-time Finals MVP had a plus-minus of -13.
“It happened pretty fast,” Durant said. “They were getting whatever they wanted on the offensive side of the ball. So it’s hard to get going on offense, it’s hard to get going as a team if you giving up points, that many points. 44 in the first, 37 in the second, 81 points at the half. That’s tough to get going.”
Kevin Durant: ‘We Just Gotta Be Better Next Year’
The Suns acquired Durant in February from the Brooklyn Nets and went undefeated with him in the lineup during the regular season. However, a season that was supposed to end in a championship has ended in the second round, but Durant doesn’t want to use his late arrival to the team as an excuse.
“Yeah, if I provide context, it’ll just be looked at as an excuse,” Durant said. “We just gotta be better next year.”
Durant averaged 29.0 points in the 2023 playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers and Nuggets. He hasn’t gotten past the second round of the postseason since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
Kevin Durant: ‘We Got a Good Foundation’
Durant said it’s hard to see what the future holds for the Suns. However, the two-time champion believes there’s a “good foundation” to build on.
“It’s hard right now to see what the future will hold for our team,” Durant said. “But we got a good foundation, good infrastructure we can build on and move on from this and learn from it and get better from it. But it’s a hard question to answer right now. I’m sure as the summer and offseason starts to progress we’ll figure that out a little bit more.”
Durant and Devin Booker will be back with the Suns next season unless one of the All-Stars requests a trade. The same can’t be said for Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul. Ayton doesn’t have a good relationship with Suns head coach Monty Williams, sources told Heavy Sports, and Paul is 38 and no longer an elite player in the NBA. CP3, who missed Games 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Nuggets series with a groin injury, has a partially guaranteed contract for next season.
Booker, who usually speaks to the media after losses, didn’t meet with reporters after losing Game 6 to the Nuggets, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The Kentucky product had only 12 points in Game 6 in 36 minutes.
This is very uncharacteristic for Booker, who typically embraces the responsibilities that come along with being the face of the franchise. Local media members couldn’t recall the last time he left arena without fulfilling his media obligations.