The first game without Chris Paul ended up as a much-needed confidence boost for the Phoenix Suns. After some back-and-forth action against the Oklahoma City Thunder right out of the All-Star break, they coasted down the stretch, winning by a comfortable 124-104 margin.
Stepping up to the plate as the team’s primary ball-handler, Devin Booker chipped in with 25 points, 12 assists, and six steals. “Point Book” without question put on a show—and proved himself fully capable of running an NBA offense.
However, he was not without aid. Some reinforcements still came up big for Booker and the Suns, helping to carve out what became the team’s 49th victory for the season.
The “twins” known as Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson both dropped 21 points. Johnson also racked up five assists and turned it over only once, shouldering some of the facilitator duties now sitting on Booker’s doorstep.
Jae Crowder also contributed with 17 points to help secure the win, his most in a game since January 11th. Aaron Holiday even shot a perfect 5-5 from the field to drop 12 points off the bench. Landry Shamet came off the injury list to add 10 points, knocking down two triples.
The Suns knew they needed to play unselfishly and keep the ball hopping to get open shots without CP3, and did so effectively.
But as we all know, the next two games did not go as planned for the Suns. In their losses to the New Orleans Pelicans and more recently the Utah Jazz, these three issues came to light.