Devin Booker and the Suns, winners of four straight, next face OKC,
This is no April Fools joke.
Phoenix remains one of the NBA’s top teams.
Winners of four straight, the Suns are 11-3 in their last 14 games.
Monty Williams just earned his first Western Conference Coach of the Month honors in Phoenix, second overall. His first was back in January 2011 in New Orleans with two familiar faces who’ve helped him thrive this season in Phoenix. Chris Paul. Willie Green.
Paul was his point guard back then. He’s now his more experienced floor general who has become an 11-time All-Star and one of the best to ever play the position.
Green was one of his bench contributors back then. He’s now his lead assistant who has the look of a future NBA head coach.
Phoenix’s last five games have come down to the wire, but the Suns (33-14) have won the latter four as they defeated Chicago in the second of a back-to-back Wednesday.
“To muster up enough energy to get the stops we needed and get the scores we needed, I thought it was a really good job,” Williams said.
Here’s a look back at Wednesday’s 121116 win as All-Star Devin Booker scored a season-high 45 points and ahead to Friday’s home game against Oklahoma City, which won Jan. 27 in Phoenix.
The Suns were 8-8 after that loss. They’ve gone 25-6 since.
Player of Wednesday’s game: Devin Booker
Patrick Williams checked the stat sheet to fully grasp what happened.
“What he have? Forty-five tonight?” the Bulls rookie said. “Hmm. So, yeah, that’s on me, but, learning experience.”
No worries, rook.
Booker has done that to several people over the course of his six NBA seasons, but this is the first season it’s factoring into a winning season.
That makes these type of efforts feel even more special.
“Yes, it does, but just winning the game, honestly, that’s the main objective every night,” Booker said.
Booker reached his season high on 17of-24 shooting from the field and going 9-of-10 from the line. He only had one bucket in the fourth quarter, but it put Phoenix up five with 34.1 seconds left.
“Just trying to put the game away,” Booker said.
Booker did commit five turnovers, something that has creeped up in his game more than a time or two, but he was in attack mode all night after shooting just 41.2% (9-of-28) during the fourgame road trip.
“You could just kind of see it in the first quarter, he had it going,” Williams said as Booker had 13 first-quarter points on 6of-8 shooting. “I probably could’ve let him finish the quarter, but on a back-toback, part of me is concerned about the loads and the minutes that pile up, but from the start, you could see he had his rhythm.”
‘A couple of things’
Poor Patrick Williams, on the wrong end of Booker’s scoring spree, but he was getting more than just the business at Phoenix Suns Arena.
Booker said he gave Williams “a couple of things” in terms of advice during the game. He felt more comfortable doing that since Phoenix and Chicago closed out their home-away series with the Suns winning both games, but Booker spoke fondly of the rookie.
“I like that kid,” Booker said. “I like his size. I like his mindset. I like his mentality.”