Booker still cooking after Suns lose Durant
Suns guard has 44 points in victory over Thunder
Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams feels bad for Kevin Durant, wants him back on the floor playing, but he and his team must press forward without the newest superstar for the time being.
“Our group has adapted to a number of things all year long from the summer until now and this is no different,” Williams said. “We’ll do our best to get him healthy and get him back out there on the floor.”
Durant twisted his left ankle during his pregame workout before Wednesday’s game against Oklahoma City and didn’t play in what was going to be his Suns home debut. He will be re-evaluated for a left ankle sprain in three weeks, Suns officials announced Thursday evening.
"Further evaluation has confirmed that Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant has sustained a left ankle sprain. He will be re-evaluated in three weeks," the team said in a statement.
Devin Booker scored 44 points, hitting 6-of-10 from 3, in leading the Suns (3729) to a 132-101 blitzing of the Thunder (31-35).
"The city has been waiting on this,” Booker said after Wednesday’s game. “It's a big day. We'll reschedule the party. I'm sure they'll be back. People who missed out tonight, I tried to give them a little something to make it better, but we're still anticipating his debut here."
Sources told The Republic that Durant had a walking boot on Wednesday. Phoenix didn't have a scheduled practice Thursday. The Suns next face Sacramento (38-26) Saturday at home.
Durant was scheduled for an MRI on Thursday.
“I know how much he loves to play and wanted to play, but stuff happens," Suns All-Star Chris Paul said.
The Suns have played far more games without Durant, are fourth in the West through an injury-filled season, but they’re 3-0 with Durant on the floor and
considered a championship contender with him.
Phoenix traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first round picks and a pick swap to Brooklyn for T.J. Warren and Durant right before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
“The thing I’ve always been impressed with him in particular, is for a player that literally can do whatever he wants on the court on any possession, he really does a great job of blending into the team and kind of harnessing his own talent,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault before Wednesday’s game.
Durant is averaging 26.7 points in his three games with the Suns as he scored 37 in Sunday’s 130-126 win at Dallas. This is after missing 20 games with a right MCL sprain suffered Jan. 8 at Miami.
Playing 40 minutes, Durant hit the game winner Sunday with 12.4 seconds left.
“They’ve got one of the best players in
the world,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “To have him and (Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton) all on the floor, it’s hard to double team. They put a lot of pressure on you offensively and defensively, they have a system where they use their length and they got guys out there that understand their roles are and they’re playing their roles at a high level.”
Booker has been on fire since Durant’s debut March 1 in Charlotte. He averaged 36 points in the three games with Durant in earning Western Conference player of the week honors.
He continued his scoring surge Wednesday in becoming the first player in Suns history to churn out at least 35 points in four consecutive games.
“He’s a really good basketball player and he’s hungry, you can see it,” Williams said. “I see it in his workouts, I see it in the focus in film session. You see it on the floor. There’s a hunger. He’s chasing something and it gives our team a lot of juice.”
Torrey Craig got the start for Durant after not starting the previous three games. The Suns cruised past the Thunder as they led by as many as 36 points.
Terrence Ross scored 24 points off the bench, going 6-of-10 from 3, while Paul hit 4-of-5 from deep in scoring 18 points to go along with his game-high nine assists.
“Knowing this was going to be (Durant’s) first home game, we were all excited, but once we found out he wasn’t playing, not anything against him, but we weren’t tripping,” Paul said. “We got a lot of guys in our locker room who are more than capable.”
The Suns have 16 games remaining in the regular season. Six of their next eight games are against teams in playoff contention – Sacramento, Golden State, Milwaukee, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia.
They face the Kings twice during that stretch with their fourth and final regular season matchup set for March 24 in Sacramento. The Suns are 2-0 against the Kings.
Phoenix plays at defending NBA champion Golden State on Monday and takes on Milwaukee at home Tuesday in the second of a back-to-back. The Suns are 3-0 versus the Warriors, but they fell to the Bucks late last month in Milwaukee in the game before Durant made his Suns debut March 1 at Charlotte.
They later have a three-game road trip featuring a March 22 battle with Lakers and conclude this eight-game stretch March 25 versus Philadelphia in the second of a back-to-back. The Suns are 2-0 against the Lakers, but they dropped their first matchup to the 76ers back in November in Philadelphia.
Phoenix also plays the Magic at home March 16 and begin the three-game road trip March 19 at OKC. The Suns lost at Orlando in November, but they’re 2-0 versus the Thunder.