LOS ANGELES — The Phoenix Suns have knocked off the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers to advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
Devin Booker led the Suns with 47 points, a season-high as the Suns mostly coasted to a 113-100 win over the Lakers.
It was Booker's fourth 30+ point game in his first six career playoff games.
It's the first time LeBron James has ever lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Booker set the tone early again when he went 8-for-9 in the first quarter and 6-for-6 from three. He set a new career-high for three-pointers in a game with eight.
Jae Crowder came up big for the Suns for the second-straight game, finishing with 18 points on six three-pointers made.
The Suns got out to a 29-point lead in the second quarter and took a 21-point lead into the half.
The Lakers cut the lead to 12 points in the third and the Suns took a 13-point lead into the fourth.
The lead never got below 10 in the fourth quarter as the Suns took the 113-110 win.
The Suns advance to take on the 3-seed Denver Nuggets in the second round. The Nuggets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers prior to the Suns game, winning the series 4-2.
Phoenix played Denver three times this year, but all three games were in January. The Suns took the first game but lost the second two, which were played on back-to-back days.
Denver has likely-MVP Nikola Jokić, who averaged 33 points per game in the series against Portland.
The schedule for the Suns-Nuggets series has not yet been released.
The last time the Suns made it to the second round was 2011 when they swept the San Antonio Spurs before losing 4-2 in the conference finals to the Lakers.
The Suns haven't played the Nuggets in a playoff series since 1989 when they defeated the Nuggets 4-1 in the first round.
12 Sports on YouTube
Watch more of the latest sports videos on the 12 News YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!
