Devin Booker could be shooting 9 percent from the field and I would still want the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Last night showed exactly why. If you somehow missed it, Book hit a game-winning deep ball with 0.7 seconds left against the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Everyone went nuts, et cetera, et cetera.
Booker is shooting a tad better than 9 percent from deep this year. His 29.5% clip is a career-low, though, and there has been plenty of hand-wringing about his "struggles" this year — many of which are thoroughly overblown, to be fair — but head coach Jordan Ott made one thing clear last night. In the clutch, Book still gets the rock.
That's the correct decision for a bevy of reasons, one of them being that, according to Tim MacMahon of The Hoop Collective, "The ninth time in Book's career he's hit a go-ahead shot in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter and overtime, more than every other player in the league since he's been in the league except one..."
"He has the greatest awareness of game management that I've ever been around," Ott said after the game. Hard to argue with that statement, especially after Booker knew the final shot was his despite being a facilitator (9 assists) most of the night.
That "one", if you were wondering, is DeMar DeRozan. I'm pretty sure he hit like 80 percent of those in two weeks with the Bulls, but I digress. Point is, Booker has established himself as a preeminent go-to scorer in the waning seconds, and it's pretty encouraging for Suns fans that, no matter how Booker is shooting in a given game, he's still trustworthy as a closer.
Devin Booker's brilliance caps off best Suns win in years
I slept on it, and woke up this morning still believing this is the Suns' best win in the past three years. Everything about it was poetic; Jordan Goodwin, Collin Gillespie, and Dillon Brooks, three players who are on the Suns in part because no one else wanted them, kept the Suns breathing when they were down nearly 20 points. Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, two hidden gem draft picks, both grinded their way to productive minutes.
Then, of course, the team's superstar — who's stuck with this team and city despite plenty of opportunities to jet — came through in the biggest moment of all. Good enough to make a grown blogger cry. That was the shot that sealed the deal for the Suns, of course, but the entire team posted an offensive rating of 170 in clutch time, according to Shane Young. Apparently, if the game is close, the Suns turn into the 2017 Warriors. Works for me!
Now 21-14, the Suns are squarely in the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, and look dangerous enough to challenge the Wolves and Rockets in front of them. Remember when we were told they have the worst future outlook in the entire league? I remember. It never made sense. No, I'm not bitter... It's just funny how...