Most everyone one shot poorly
Off-nights are also happen, but they are exacerbated when the star player’s shooting arm gets banged up. It is hard to tell what exactly happened, but Booker played most of the game with a taped-up right wrist.
Book is as tough as they come, and he stayed out there, but he was clearly affected. Not only did he not shoot well (35%) he didn’t look confident in 4th quarter when he usually takes over a game. Instances where he would normally pull up, he shot-faked instead and look to pass.
Book finished with 15 points and 10 assists, but it was his lack of aggression that stood out. Surprisingly, he also posted a team-worst -15 in the +/- column. You don’t usually see this from the player who led the team in assists.
With Booker hurt, it would be up to the supporting cast to pick up scoring and most of them did not do that. Some late scoring by Aron Baynes made bench production look average on paper, but the Suns only shot 39% as a team.
In a game where they were out-rebounded by 11, missing that many shots, many of the open, just can’t happen.
Speaking of shooting…