Booker, Whitmore get physical again in Suns’ win over Rockets
It’s all good.
Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker remembers being a young rookie trying the same things rookie Cam Whitmore attempted with him in Thursday night’s 110-105 home win over Houston.
“It started last game (last week in Houston), same thing, just competing, being extra physical,” Booker said. “I like it. I’ve been in these situations plenty of times before.”
Booker and Whitmore both received technical fouls in the skirmish with 6:41 left in Thursday’s game. Booker also drew a foul as the player was reviewed.
“I was that same young player doing that same thing,” Booker said. “I remember doing it to Jimmy Butler my rookie year and him going into postgame afterward talking about me.”
Booker and Whitmore had exchanged words in the first half going into a timeout, but their back-and-forth went to another level nearly midway through the fourth quarter. After Booker made a 3pointer with 6:48 remaining, Whitmore appeared to make contact with him from behind.
In reaction, Booker dropped his shoulder into Whitmore running back down court. Backpedaling, a smiling Booker resumed his jawing with Whitmore, who closed the air space between the two with a shove.
Booker grabbed at the arm of Whitmore, who reacted and made contact with Booker’s head. That led to Suns forward Royce O’Neale stepping between the two before security intervened.
“You never want to back down and I respect going at a top player,” Booker continued. “You just got to be ready for it.”
The Suns had just played the Rockets last Friday in Houston when Whitmore and Booker went at it.
“The kid did some bulls--- in Houston, too,” said Suns big Jusuf Nurkic about the 19-year-old Whitmore. “They want to play that nonsense basketball. I understand they’re young and they got to fight
up and they have a real good coach. They have a great setup for the future, but we don’t want to play that type of basketball.”
Nurkic then blocked Whitmore’s shot twice on the same possession that fired up the sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center that had already booed the rookie after seeing the replay of his exchange on the arena jumbotron.
“I’m always going to have the back of my teammates,” Nurkic continued. “... I knew it was going to happen regardless. I know he tried to go out there. Sometimes I use my jump ability to block shots, sometimes I don’t, but you don’t want to get into foul trouble.”
Thanks, big fella.
“That’s very important, your team sticking together,” Booker said. “And that goes a long way. That’s what you need when things get tough. When things get to the thick of things and the energy is high, you want to know you have people on your team that are built like that for you.”
The Suns (35-24) and Rockets (25-34) meet one more time Saturday at Footprint Center to mark the third time Phoenix will face Houston in four games.
The irony of all this was the shot Booker hit before that back-and-forth with
Whitmore was his sixth and final 3 of the game to mark the 25th time he’s reached that regular-season career high in his nine NBA seasons.
“That’s why I shot that last one,” said Booker about his 3-point attempt with a little under a minute remaining in the game with and Phoenix leading, 106100.
Making his first four 3s in Thursday’s game, Booker was 5-of-6 from deep in the first half. Booker ended the game with a 6-of-10 effort on 3s.
For the record, Booker splashed a playoff career-high eight 3s in a Game 6 closeout win over the defending NBA champion Lakers in the first round of the 2021 postseason in Los Angeles.
“It’s happened in the playoffs,” Booker said on hitting more than six 3s. “I’ll take it then.”
Booker had made six 3s in three previous games this 2023-24 regular season, hitting half a dozen Jan. 26 at Indiana on his season-high 62-point night before matching that number again Thursday.
The four-time All-Star first made six 3s in an NBA game his rookie season Jan. 19, 2016 against the Pacers in Phoenix. That was also his first career 30point game as he finished with 32.