NBA Game Notes (May 9, 2023)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on May 9, 2023.

Nuggets One Win Away

The Denver Nuggets are one win away from securing a spot in the Western Conference Finals, beating the Phoenix Suns 118-102 to take a 3-2 series lead. The teams will head back to Phoenix for Game 6 on Thursday.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic recorded his 10th career playoff triple-double, recording game highs of 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. Jokic is the eighth player (and first center) in NBA history to reach that mark. He’s the second-fastest player to do so based on games played:

• 26 — Magic Johnson

• 58 — Nikola Jokic

• 91 — Jason Kidd

• 92 — Rajon Rondo

• 98 — Russell Westbrook

• 123 — Draymond Green

• 132 — LeBron James

• 151 — Larry Bird

It’s the fifth time Jokic has been the outright leader in points, rebounds, and assists in a playoff game. The only player in NBA history with more such games is LeBron James (15).

Jokic has totals of 306 points, 131 rebounds, and 95 assists in 10 games in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. The only other player in NBA history to record at least 300 points, 100 rebounds, and 75 assists through his first 10 games of a postseason is Oscar Robertson in 1963.

Bruce Brown had a huge game coming off the bench for the Nuggets, scoring 25 points in just 27 minutes played. Brown shot 7-11 from the field and made nine of his 10 free throws.

The Suns’ Devin Booker scored a team-high 28 points in the loss. Booker shot 8-19 from the field — including 4-7 from 3-point range — and made eight of his nine free throws. Booker is just the ninth player in NBA history to open a postseason with 10 straight 25-point games (a total of 12 instances):

• Elgin Baylor (1961, 1962)

• Wilt Chamberlain (1962)

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970, 1980)

• Adrian Dantley (1984)

• Alex English (1985)

• Michael Jordan (1990)

• Kobe Bryant (2003)

• LeBron James (2009, 2017)

• Devin Booker (2023)

Teammate Kevin Durant scored 26 points, but shot just 10-24 from the field, missing all three of his 3-point attempts. Durant also recorded team highs of 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Booker and Durant have each scored at least 25 points in the same game nine times in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, tied for the sixth-most such games in NBA history by a duo in a single postseason.