National Basketball Association

Who's to blame for top-seeded Suns' fall?

Published May. 16, 2022 5:40 p.m. ET

The Phoenix Suns had their worst performance of the season in a stunning 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday.

Mavs superstar Luka Dončić (35 points) and reserve Spencer Dinwiddie (30) both outscored the Suns' Big Three — Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton — who finished with a combined 26 points.

The trio went 1-for-15 from the field in the first half as Phoenix fell into an unconquerable 30-point hole. Booker finished with 11 points, while Paul had 10. The Suns shot just 37.9% from the field.

The fourth-seeded Mavericks face Golden State in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

On Monday's "First Things First," Nick Wright celebrated Dončić's performance that led the Mavs to a commanding victory after being down 3-2 against the top-seeded Suns.

"Who stepped up? Who made sure his team won by a combined 60 points in the final two games of this series? Who sent the 64-win defending Western Conference champions home? Luka bleeping Dončić.

"Finally, Luka got a little bit of help … and he got to break out on these fake tough guys in Phoenix."

Mavs defeat defending Western Conference champs in seven

Nick Wright shares his biggest highlights of the game, and Chris Broussard gives his biggest takeaways after Chris Paul and Devin Booker's disappointing playoff exit.

In terms of the Suns' downfall, NBA analyst Chris Broussard explained why he puts the majority of the blame for the loss on CP3, saying that the Suns' leader wasn't himself and ultimately failed his team.

"You can argue that Booker had a worse game yesterday, and he did statistically. … When you get beat by 33, down by 42 in a Game 7 at home, there's a lot of blame to go around, but I would put most of it on Chris Paul," he said.

"There isn't a Game 7 if Chris Paul doesn't go into a five-game slump. It literally was like Father Time was sitting in his locker waiting for him to turn 37. He turned 37 on Game 3, that day, and doesn't have a good game the rest of the way. … Yesterday, you could see it. It looked like Chris just didn't have any spirit. … He was out of energy. Darn near psyched out, maybe. It didn't look good. … Their leader just wasn't there."

On the other side, Wright argued that blame for the loss falls on Booker's shoulders.

"Chris Paul has reasons for his lack of success here. You know who doesn't? Devin Booker," he said. "Devin Booker's mouth tried to cash a check that his play couldn't back up. … We can blame them both, considering the fact that Luka had more points, rebounds [and] assists than Devin Booker and Chris Paul combined over the final two games. CP3 has some excuses that are explanations. … Devin Booker's got none of them."

Chris Paul or Devin Booker: Who's to blame for Suns' exit?

Antoine Walker joins Chris Broussard to break down why Paul deserves the most blame, while Wright explains why he's laying the blame at Booker's feet.

Here's how the sports world reacted to Sunday's game.