Phoenix Suns: Reliving Devin Booker’s Career 70-Point Night

Devin Booker dropped 70 points Friday night. Yes, you read that right. Here’s a look at his historic night and what it means for the Phoenix Suns.

It’s not often that a 20-year-old playing for an unadulterated, unabashed tank team can steal the spotlight during a loss, but that’s exactly what Devin Booker did Friday night against the Boston Celtics.

Though the Phoenix Suns would lose the game by 10 and give up 130 points the night after being embarrassed by the lowly Brooklyn Nets, Booker was the main story with his career-high and NBA season-high 70 points.

Yes, you read that right: 70 points.

Going 21-for-40 from the field, 4-for-11 from three-point range and 24-for-26 from the foul line, Booker was an absolute flamethrower in his 45 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back, adding in eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Though the Suns were blatantly fouling and calling timeouts to try and boost his numbers at the very end of the game, he had 60 points halfway through the fourth quarter and tallied 51 in the second half.

Simply put, it was a historic performance that topped even Michael Jordan‘s unforgettable 63-point performance (also in a loss) in Boston.

Earlier this season, Booker set and then tied his career-high of 39 points. On Friday night, he nearly doubled it with 70, which is the most points in a game among all active NBA players. The next closest? Carmelo Anthony at 62 and LeBron James at 61.

He also became the youngest player in NBA history to score that many points, joining Kobe Bryant, David Thompson, David Robinson, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain as the sixth player in NBA history to drop 70 points in the 11th 70-point game overall.

That’s pretty elite company to be in, no matter what a few ex-Suns on the Celtics had to say about it, and Booker’s response summed things up pretty well.

Booker’s 70-point explosion is obviously a new Suns franchise high, but the fact that he broke Tom Chambers‘ old record of 60 points 27 years to the day is pretty remarkable.

In a season where the losses continue to pile up, especially with Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Tyson Chandler all shut down for the year, Friday’s night’s performance was a breath of fresh air for long-tortured Suns fans.

Even better, it was a reminder that despite his on and off struggles this year and his need for improvement on the defensive end, Devin Booker is this organization’s greatest hope for returning to prominence.

After years of Suns fans despising Kobe Bryant, it’s a little ironic that the next face of the franchise (and arguably “current” after this historic performance) is very much like him. From his propensity to keep hoisting shots no matter what his shooting line is, to his confident and cocky demeanor on the court, Booker is a stone-cold killer at only 20 years old.

Kobe and Booker are both 6’6″ shooting guards. They’re both primary scorers who started young, were drafted No. 13 overall and were the youngest players in their respective drafts.

Booker’s big night was also the highest scoring performance in the league since — you guessed it — Kobe Bryant’s infamous 81-point game.

As the Suns continue to get in fights and Booker continues to drop huge numbers in losses, there will be plenty of critics and haters along the way — much like there were for the Black Mamba.

It’s easy to pick holes in what Booker did Friday night. Just 24 hours before, the narrative regarding the Suns was an extremely negative one as they blatantly tanked against the worst team in the NBA.

With so many players missing games due to “injury,” the losses have piled up in a way that would make Sam Hinkie blush. Celebrating a high-scoring night — even a historic one such as this — felt odd to some in that context, especially since it came in a double digit loss.

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But complaints of this nature would be like saying winning the lottery isn’t worth it because some of the money goes to taxes.

The Fun Police should always cave to NBA history, especially when a 20-year-old, baby-faced assassin turns a hostile Boston crowd into an engrossed arena cheering for his every basket down the stretch.

No one should blame head coach Earl Watson for fouling and calling timeouts down the stretch to help Booker boost his career-high night either. How often are we going to see a 70-point performance like that, let alone in a tanking season where Suns fans have had little to cheer about?

With a young core of Booker, T.J. Warren, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender, Tyler Ulis, Alex Len, Alan Williams and Derrick Jones Jr., these young Suns may not be good yet, but they’ll get there one day.

As much as the Suns are “tanking” right now, they’re also thinking about the future — not only by preparing for a high draft pick, but by giving minutes to the players who may actually still be on the roster five years down the road.

From the sheer volume of his scoring night to reminding Suns fans that he is the future to a developing beef with the Celtics, Devin Booker’s historic night was good not only for Phoenix, but for the NBA as well.

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Booker became the youngest player since LeBron James and Kevin Durant to drop 30 points in a game as a rookie. Since he’s not even old enough to legally drink yet, something tells us there are going to be a lot more of those “youngest since” benchmarks throughout Devin Booker’s promising NBA career.