The arrival of kevin durant has completely reinvigorated the season of Phoenix Suns and even in games in which the forward is not available (he was injured in the warm-up), those led by Monty Williams show a version worthy of one of the best teams in the conference and, why not, the league.
Los Suns aplastaron a Oklahoma City Thunder (which came from comfortably beating Golden State) by 132-101guided by a Devin Booker of historic performance: the escort finished with 44 points and a 17-23 pitch in just 27:30 minutes.
Devin Booker has 41 ????️
His sixth 40+ point game of the season
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????: https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/4skQTmcTEL— NBA (@NBA) March 9, 2023
His 44 points are a record for a Phoenix player among those with 30 minutes or less on the court. The Suns have never had such a scoring performance in such a short time. Booker’s record surpassed Paul Westphal (39 in 30 minutes in 1979), to Tom Chambers (38 in 28 in 1989) already Cameron Johnson (38 en 28 en 2022).
Of course, although it represents the maximum for the franchise, the 44 were far from the general maximum for a game under 30 minutes: that brand belongs to Klay Thompsonwho in a 2016 Warriors-Pacers game scored no less than 60 points in 29 minutes.
If we put the barrier in 28 minutes (the ones that Booker played tonight), the leader is also Klay: 52 in 27during a 2018 Warriors-Bulls (in which he broke the record for triples, with 14 conversions).
The truth is that far from Durant’s entry into the team complicating Booker’s scoring volume, the arrival of the star seems to have motivated the former Kentucky even more. In the three games that shared the field, the shooting guard added 37, 35 and 36 pointswhile this Wednesday, without KD, he went to the 44.
Thus, Booker reached another record this Wednesday: string of four consecutive games scoring 35 or more points. No one had ever achieved it in the history of the Phoenix franchise: Charles Barkley, Charlie Scott and Booker himself they had the record, with three “+35” in a row. Next Saturday, the Michigan native will have a chance to extend the streak to five when Phoenix takes on the shaky defense of Sacramento Kings.
Devin Booker is the first player in Suns franchise history with 4 straight games with 35+ points
44 PTS (74% FG) in 28 MINS
36 PTS (60% FG), 10 AST
35 PTS (50% FG), 6 AST
37 PTS (58% FG), 7 AST pic.twitter.com/LLe3QUHhAg— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 9, 2023
The other very good news of the game for Phoenix went through the terrence ross performancein just his fifth game with the Suns: the former Orlando scored 24 points in 23 minutesfulfilling that role of instant offense off the bench, which could end up tipping more than one game during the playoffs.
At the most crucial moment of the year, the season begins to smile on the Suns. Even on a night that started with alarm, due to Kevin Durant’s particular injury. great candidates
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