Devin Booker scored 47 points as the visiting Phoenix Suns eliminated the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers from the NBA playoffs on Friday (NZ time) with a 113-100 victory in Game 6 of a Western Conference first-round series.
In their first visit to the playoffs since 2010, the No. 2-seeded Suns moved on to face the No. 3-seed Denver Nuggets with a 4-2 series victory.
The Lakers have become just the seventh NBA reigning champions to be eliminated in the first round.
Booker made a career-best eight 3-pointers on 10 attempts and secured 11 rebounds, while Jae Crowder added 18 points for Phoenix, and Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson scored 10 each as the Suns won the final three games of the series, two of which were in Los Angeles.
LeBron James - who was kept to his lowest points on average in the opening five playoff games (22) - scored 29 points for the No. 7 seed Lakers, but tag-team partner Anthony Davis lasted just 5 minutes, 25 seconds while trying to play through a left groin strain that kept him out of Game 5.
Reigning champions rarely get eliminated in the first round but even more scarce, James doesn't get bundled out in the opening round.
The loss to the Suns marked the first time in his career that he was eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs.
It was a series defined by injuries as the Lakers also saw guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope slowed with a left knee contusion and James was playing after a high ankle sprain wiped out 26 of 28 games late in the season.
Suns guard Chris Paul - played the series after he injured his right shoulder in Game one - tallied eight points and 12 assists in Game six.
Paul averaged 9.2 points in the series after scoring 16.4 points in the regular season while Booker scored 29.7 per game in the series.
The Suns took control early, leading 21-10 after seven minutes on a 3-pointer by Booker. LA star Davis was out of the game by then, removed with 6:35 left in the first period after aggravating his injury while trying to stay with Booker defensively.
Phoenix pushed the advantage to 36-14 by the end of the first quarter after Booker scored 22 points - eight of nine from the field and 6 of 6 from 3-point range - as the Suns shot 68.4 percent in the opening 12 minutes.
Phoenix led by as many as 29 in the second quarter and 62-41 at halftime before the Lakers cut the deficit to 89-76 by the end of the third.
The Lakers cut the deficit to 10 points, 94-84, with 8:06 to play but could not get any closer. Dennis Schroder scored 20 points and Caldwell-Pope 19 for the Lakers.
Crowder was ejected late in the game after a confrontation near the Lakers' bench.
With James eliminated from the playoffs, it will be the first time since 2010 that Lebron or Steph Curry haven't featured in the NBA finals.
Reuters
