Devin Booker and the Suns had reason to celebrate after tying their series against the Nuggets in Game 4.

PHOENIX — So much for the illusion of Denver possessing the deeper roster in this series.

We’ll soon dive into the impact made by Phoenix stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in the Suns’ 129-124 win against the Nuggets in Game 4. But let’s first acknowledge the significance of the Suns’ role players these last two games in evening up the series at two games apiece.

Booker and Durant scored 36 points each Sunday, while Nikola Jokic poured in a game-high and playoff career-high 53 points. Additionally, Jamal Murray chipped in 28 for a total of 81 points between he and Jokic, which was buttressed by double-figure scoring from the remaining three in the starting five.

Ultimately, though, the reserves made all the difference in this one.

“[With] the attention [Booker and Durant are] getting, we needed Landry [Shamet], Terrence [Ross], and T.J. [Warren] on the back side to knock down shots,” said Suns coach Monty Williams. “If they double team, you have to be able to have shot makers on the back side, willing shot takers, and then guys that can put pressure on the rim.”

Shamet embodied as much in ensuring Phoenix’s reserves positively impacted the outcome of Game 4. The 26-year-old scored 14 of Phoenix’s 31 points in the fourth quarter on a night he drained five 3-pointers, including four in the fourth quarter. The fifth-year veteran entered Game 4 having scored a grand total of seven points over the first three games in this series.

Shamet finished with 19 points, which registers as the most by a Suns reserve so far in the playoffs.

Over a span of 1 minute, 45 seconds in the fourth quarter, Shamet splashed three consecutive 3-pointers to give Phoenix a nine-point lead with 6:48 left to play. Phoenix embarked on a 14-8 run in the fourth quarter with Shamet shooting 4-for-5 from range during the barrage.

“Anytime you put two on the ball, you are going to give something up,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “Then we allowed Landry Shamet to hit a couple more after that. That is where discipline comes in to play and awareness of who is on the floor at what time with who. We know what KD and Booker can do. You tip your cap, and you say Landry Shamet, he gave them a third scoring option tonight. It was a huge part of them winning this game.”

Phoenix’s bench unit also walloped Denver’s reserves for the second consecutive contest.

Since we’re on the subject of reserves, we’ll start there in our five takeaways from Game 4:

1. Bench beatdown

Phoenix’s backups outscored the Denver bench 22-20 in Game 3, only to widen that margin with an encore performance in Game 4. The Suns entered Game 4 at 2-1 in the 2023 playoffs when their bench contributes 22 points or more. So, when Phoenix’s reserves dropped 40 points and outscored Denver’s bench by 29 points, a victory seemed almost inevitable.

“We played 10 guys tonight, they played eight,” Durant said. “That is always good when we can bring guys in off the bench and give us a couple minutes rest and we don’t miss a beat. It was good for us to finish the game. Good that Devin only played 40 minutes tonight after playing 45 the first eight or nine games.”

Shamet led all reserves in Game 4 with his 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5-for-8 from deep in 30 minutes. Shamet finished as a plus-15 in raw plus-minus, and his scoring output and five 3-pointers registered as postseason career-highs. Nearly splitting time with starting center Deandre Ayton, backup big Jock Landale contributed eight points, five rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes on the way to leading all players with a plus-16 rating for Game 4.

Ross knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in contributing his eight points, with Warren adding an additional five points on 1-for-3 shooting.

Prior to Phoenix’s bench reeling off a 40 piece in Game 4, its previous high this postseason was 24.

2. Non-Jokic minutes becoming an issue

We watched Denver struggle in the minutes that two-time Kia MVP Nikola Jokic wasn’t on the floor in Game 3, as Phoenix mounted a 9-0 run in his absence, starting late in the third quarter. In fact, for the first time in this series, the Nuggets lost the non-Jokic minutes in Game 3 on the way to ultimately suffering defeat. Going into that game, Denver had outscored opponents by 34 points in the 82 minutes Jokic had been off the floor in these playoffs.

So, naturally déjà vu creeped in as early as the second quarter of Game 4, when the Suns outscored the Nuggets 19-11 during the non-Jokic minutes of the first half.

“The bench, they outscored us 40-11 tonight,” Malone said. “Give Ross and Landry Shamet a lot of credit. They know how we are guarding [Booker and Durant] and they made us pay for putting two on the ball. We have to be able to guard those guys one-on-one at times and be able to mix that in. Starters, bench, whoever plays, we have to have greater urgency on the defensive end.”

3. Phoenix’s dynamic duo

Booker and Durant produced 158 points over the last two games, which ranks as the second-most by any duo during a two-game postseason stretch (trailing only Michael Jordan and Orlando Woolridge, who in 1986 combined for 161 points).

After lighting up the Nuggets with a 20-for-25 shooting performance in Game 3, Booker followed with 36 points on 14-for-18 shooting, in addition to dishing a postseason career-high 12 assists. Over the last two games, Booker scored 83 points on a whopping 79% shooting. Over at least the last 55 seasons (records are incomplete prior to that), Booker ranks as the lone player to score 80 points or more on 75% shooting or better over a two-game stretch. His 331 points over the first nine games of this postseason rank as the most through a player’s first nine playoff games in a single postseason since Jordan rang up 361 points through nine games in the 1990 playoffs.

During the third quarter Sunday, Booker went 6-for-6 overall (and 3-for-3 on 3-pointers) as he amassed 17 points.

“I’m just trying to win,” Booker said. “Something that I tell KD [is]: ‘Throw that efficiency s— out the window. I don’t care about that.’ Just keep going, keep attacking, keep being aggressive. If it is a product of just getting open shots and knocking them down, that is what I am supposed to do. Jock [Landale], DA [Deandre Ayton] setting screens for me, getting me open. Guys like Landry, KD making them pay on the back side for helping too much. [I’m] just taking what the defense gives me. I feel like I am supposed to make a lot of the shots I take.”

Durant obviously harbors similar sentiments, having blistered Denver for 11 of his 36 points in the opening quarter while pulling down a team-high 11 rebounds to go with six assists and two steals. Durant moved past Jerry West (1,622) for eighth on the NBA’s all-time postseason made field goals list, after passing Tony Parker for No. 9 in Game 3.

If Booker and Durant maintain their current averages throughout the playoffs, they could join West and Elgin Baylor (1962) as the second set of teammates to each average 30 points or more in the same postseason, according to Stathead.

4.Some Game 4 blues

You know it wasn’t your game when you connected on 56% of your shots and still lost a game in which your two-time MVP scored a franchise playoff-high 53 points. Jokic became the fifth player in NBA history to put together a 50-point, 10-assist playoff game, joining West, Sleepy Floyd, Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard.

Booker even admitted that Phoenix is “still trying to figure” out how to slow down Jokic.

“He can make sure everyone is involved at the same time,” Booker said. “So, you don’t want to overhelp because then he will spread it out and they are shooting 3s on the backside. If you leave the matchup there 1-on-1, he is going to make you pay for it. We are just always talking about making it hard, making it tough, trying to wear him down. He is doing all that offensively. At the same time on defense, he is up on all of our screens. He is playing out of his mind. I am happy that it is 2-2.”

Interestingly, Game 4s and the Nuggets appear to be synonymous with futility.

Denver has dropped each of its last three Game 4s on the road and six of its last seven overall. In its last 22 Game 4s, the Nuggets are 6-16. Conversely, Phoenix is 7-1 in Game 4s since 2000 (including best-of-five series), which is the best record in the NBA. Sunday’s game marked the first time Phoenix hosted a Game 4 since 2010. But each of the last six times the club played host in a best-of-seven series, the Suns won.

5. No Murray bounce-back game

Murray scored 28 points in Game 4, adding seven assists and five rebounds in producing his 26th career game with 20 points or more (and his sixth 20-plus point game of the 2023 playoffs). But Murray was nowhere to be found in the postgame locker room, clearly frustrated about the way he’s performed recently.

Remember, Murray finished with a game-high 32 points in Game 3 but contributed just four points on 1-for-8 shooting in the fourth quarter. Over his last two games, Murray has shot 26-for-54 (60 points). While he didn’t address reporters after Game 4, teammates Michael Porter Jr. and Jeff Green insisted Denver remains confident headed into Game 5 on Tuesday at Ball Arena (10 p.m. ET, TNT).

“We wanted to get one here on the road,” Porter said. “We were in both games. We’ve got to make some adjustments, but we are very confident. It’s the best-of-three now. So, we have to win two more. It’s a fun series. This is what the playoffs are about. We didn’t expect to sweep our way through the playoffs. We just have to look at the bright side. At least we aren’t down 0-2. It’s tied up 2-2. Go back home and take care of business.”

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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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