Getty Kevin Durant
Phoenix Suns small forward Kevin Durant called himself out after the Denver Nuggets won Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
The two-time Finals MVP said he has to be better with the ball in his hands. Durant had seven turnovers in Game 1.
“I slipped a couple times,” Durant said. “I threw a couple bad passes. I only had one assist and seven turnovers. We not gonna win basketball games like that. I gotta be extremely, way more careful with the ball. I gotta either look to shoot the ball or make a correct pass. They got 17 more shots up. I damn near got half our turnovers. So yeah, I put that on me just keepin’ the ball in my hands and not tryin’ to make the homerun play.”
The Suns lost Game 1 by a final score of 125-107. Durant finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds while shooting 12-of-19 from the field and 1-of-3 from beyond the arc. However, the two-time champion had seven of the Suns’ 16 turnovers.
Kevin Durant: ‘We Got Our Work Cut Out for Us’
Durant cut off a question from a reporter after Game 1 who asked him whether he was surprised by the Nuggets. The future Hall of Famer said he’s not shocked at all by how lethal Denver is.
“Am I surprised about the Nuggets? Hell no,” Durant said. “They the No. 1 seed for a reason. They got a two-time MVP. They got a deep team. No, I’m not surprised. They can go off and win games. We got our work cut out for us. We looking forward to Game 2, though.”
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray went off in Game 1, finishing with 34 points and nine assists in 37 minutes. The Kentucky product shot 6-of-10 from 3. Meanwhile, superstar center Nikola Jokic put up 24 points, 19 rebounds and five assists and swingman Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points and six rebounds.
Jamal Murray Predicted to Outscore Devin Booker
Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey is predicting that Murray will outscore Suns star shooting guard Devin Booker in this series. It’s a bold prediction since Booker leads the 2023 playoffs in points per game (35.5).
“Denver looks poised to make things more difficult than L.A.’s depth pieces, though. Throughout Game 1, the Nuggets threw quick traps at Booker, jumped him off ball screens and simply lived with whatever happened from there (early, that meant a lot of open looks for Deandre Ayton). Booker still scored 27 on 10-of-19 shooting, but offense looked a little trickier for him than it was in the first round. Really, though, this prediction is all about Playoff Jamal Murray,” Bailey wrote on May 1. ” Three years ago, Murray had a legendary playoff run when he spearheaded two series comebacks in which his team trailed 3-1. In an epic one-on-one showdown with Donovan Mitchell, he had two 50-point games and one 42-pointer. And in Saturday’s Game 1 victory over Phoenix, he looked every bit that level of offensive weapon and fed off a raucous crowd on the way to 34 points (including 20 in the second half). Now that he has another peer to trade haymakers with in Booker, expect this focus and firepower to keep up.”
Murray is averaging 28.3 points in the 2023 postseason thus far.