The Phoenix Suns have had nothing short of a rough season. In the most Suns like fashion, they took an L Friday night, but Devin Booker won.
Now in his sophomore season, Devin Booker has shown signs before of potential to be a prolific scorer in this league. I would almost dare to compare him to Carmelo Anthony’s play style, if that weren’t a near offense to the young guard. Prior to Friday night, Booker’s career-high in points scored in one game was 39. Then, he shocked the world.
Friday night’s game against the Celtics was going per usual. After the first half of play, Booker had already scored 19 points and the Suns were down 66-43. Determined to pull of a heroic effort, Booker went on to score 23 points in the 3rd quarter, totaling 42 after three.
Entering the fourth, Phoenix was still down, but with a player that hot there is only one game plan: let him shoot the ball. The Suns shooting guard nearly shot every chance he got for Phoenix, and scored 28 more points in the process. The Celtics prevailed, 130-120, but we saw one of the best shooting performances of the decade. Here’s some interesting facts about Devin Booker’s shooting performance:
-70 points is the new franchise record for the Phoenix Suns.
-At 20 years old, Booker became the youngest player in NBA history to record 60 points in a game.
-He became just the 3rd player since 1983 to score 50 points in a game, joining LeBron James and Brandon Jennings.
-Devin Booker became just the 6th player in NBA history to drop 70 points in a game joining: Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, and David Robinson.
In addition, a fun fact I noticed is Booker also becoming the first player to ever score 60 points before scoring 40 in a game. On his prolific scoring evening, Booker gave credit to the Black Mamba himself and had this to say:
“He said he never set a limit for himself, and that’s always sticks in my head. He said he’d score 100 if he could, so he never had a limit and I don’t put a limit on anything.”
Booker’s 70 points are the most points scored in a game since Kobe’s 81-point performance back in 2006. So naturally I put the two historic evenings up for comparison:
| Player: | Kobe | Devin |
| Points: | 81 | 70 |
| Rebounds: | 6 | 8 |
| Assists: | 2 | 6 |
| Steals: | 3 | 3 |
| FG%: | 28-46 (61%) | 21-40 (52%) |
| FT%: | 18-20 (90%) | 24-26 (92%) |
| Age: | 27 | 20 |
Much like Kobe, Booker did not receive much help from the rest of his team. Only Leandro Barbosa and Alex Len also scored in double figures, and it was the Suns 7th straight loss.
It was a great night for the Suns regardless, as they saw the true light in the future of their franchise shine. Phoenix fans, I’d say you have much to look forward to. Including more nights like these with this very talented shooting guard.
All stats and information provided by ESPN, Bleacher Report, and USA Today. Featured image provided by Newsday.
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