Phoenix Suns: Examining The Youngsters 2 Weeks Into 2016-17 Season
Devin Booker Learning To Embrace His Starring Role
Devin Booker didn’t get off to the hottest of starts in his highly anticipated sophomore season. His 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the season opener looked great on paper, but most of it came late in the game in what was essentially garbage time. From there, it was only downhill.
In the second game of the year, Booker hit some late shots against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but finished with 21 points on 25 shots. He followed that up with a seven-point, 3-for-12 dud against the Golden State Warriors, when it was revealed he was dealing with a toe injury.
“I can’t make no excuses, I’m just missing shots,” Booker said afterward. “I’m gonna catch my rhythm. It’s a long season, it’s early in the year. I’m kind of anxious on a lot of my shots but I’m gonna let the game come to me and I’ll be fine.”
Booker missed the following road game against the Clippers, but luckily for the Suns, Booker moving up a shoe size proved his words to be prophetic.
After a ho-hum 15 points on 15 shots in the team’s first win of the season against Portland, Booker finally came to life in New Orleans with a career-high 38 points in a win over the Pelicans.
Despite fouling out, Booker was the catalyst in Phoenix’s overtime victory, going 13-of-22 from the floor, knocking down three of his seven three-pointers and making several big baskets down the stretch in regulation and OT.
“I think he’s closing games better, hitting big shots,” Watson said. “At the same time, he plays with a confidence and a poise. Like the shot in New Orleans, he was not fazed. He was like, ‘Ok overtime, let’s go.’”
Booker drained a three to tie the game up with 12 seconds to play in New Orleans, and as if that weren’t enough, he then made a step-back jumper at the buzzer to tie the score up again and force the extra period.
It was his only great performance of the season to that point, but Booker followed it up by setting a new career-high the following game, dropping 39 points on the Los Angeles Lakers.
That put him in pretty prestigious company as the first Phoenix Sun to score at least 35 points in back-to-back games since Amar’e Stoudemire in 2006-07.
The Suns lost that disappointing road contest, but Booker went 13-for-29 from the floor, 3-for-7 from deep and even added seven assists for good measure.
He added another 23 points against the Blazers on Tuesday before coming back down to earth Wednesday night. Even after missing his second potential game-tying desperation three of the season in Portland and sputtering to 11 points against Detroit, it’s safe to say that Devin Booker is back in business.
He’s now averaging 21.5 points per game on 43.7 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent shooting from downtown on the season, and although his efficiency could improve, his form still looks pure. If the Suns can provide him with some better looks, those shooting numbers should rise.
“He just turned 20, he’s ahead of his time,” Watson said. “I’m not surprised at all to be honest with you. We talked about this two summers ago, the process of getting there for him was just the opportunity to have that experience. So he has some experience under his belt, he’s only gonna get better but at the same time, you know he has to get better in other areas of the game.”