Suns HC Jokes Kevin Durant Is 'Like an Expensive Decoy' as Devin Booker Shines in Win

The Phoenix Suns have Kevin Durant, but Devin Booker has been the star of the show in their playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers.

After a 38-point outing on Tuesday, Booker went off for 45 points on 18-of-29 shooting in Thursday's 129-124 victory in Game 3 to give the Suns a 2-1 series lead.

Suns head coach Monty Williams joked with reporters after the win that Durant has been relegated to being "an expensive decoy" to open opportunities for Booker.

"Even when we run him in actions ... sometimes two guys go with Kevin when he comes off of a screen. So that opens up the floor for everyone else," Williams added.

Booker acknowledged after the game a big reason he had the scoring output he did was directly because of the space Durant created.

"You can't leave [Durant], obviously. He draws a lot of attention," Booker said. "A lot of the buckets I scored, I went right to him right after and said, 'You opened that up.'"

Durant didn't seem to mind being used as a decoy, calling Booker's performance "all-time" following the win.

This was likely the plan Phoenix had in mind when it made the move to acquire Durant from the Brooklyn Nets before the trade deadline. The deal cost them most of their depth, but it completely altered the way opposing teams had to defend them.

Prior to the trade, most of the coverage could be geared toward Booker because the offense was going to run through him. Durant is going to be the center of attention on any team he plays for.

The Clippers defense did about as good of a job on Durant as could be expected, especially since they were playing without Kawhi Leonard because of a knee injury. He scored 28 points on 8-of-15 shooting, but his six turnovers were his most in a game since Dec. 18.

Phoenix will look to take a 3-1 series lead in Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.