Devin Booker has earned greater than past the advantage of the doubt when he has the occasional struggles for the Phoenix Suns, however that profit has reached its restrict this season after a 121-111 loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday.
Booker was 6-of-16 for 21 factors with seven assists and 5 turnovers. He has now shot 40% or worse in back-to-back video games for the third time this season. In the earlier 4 seasons, Booker has solely completed that 11 instances, so practically 3 times per yr, per Stathead. And there’s nonetheless 60 video games to go this season.
His season numbers are barely down however don’t inform the story of a participant that doesn’t seem like himself. As stated on this house beforehand, Booker is a participant so consistently in rhythm that it’s obvious when he’s not. It looks as if a coin flip this season as to when he has it, which is as unexplainable as it isn’t practically ok for probably the greatest gamers within the NBA.
Miami (11-10) mauled him early, particularly off the ball, and Booker responded to it whereas additionally trying to make use of it to his benefit by drawing fouls. He didn’t get these whistles, and from there, simply stored lacking pictures. The Heat had been sending doubles his manner typically, however once more, that is nothing new. Booker has been glorious at discovering his home windows to catch the protection missing when these doubles don’t come. He is poor at it proper now.
A quick blip within the tail-end of the third quarter of two buckets and two assisted baskets was the one signal of something flowing for Booker. It got here far too late in a 3rd quarter the Suns (12-10) had been jumped in for the fifth straight recreation. They at the moment are -58 in them throughout that point and it misplaced Phoenix the sport on Saturday.
Yes, Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) remained out. But to proceed defying the “Suns are cooked with out KD” narrative, Phoenix was 5-2 with out Durant final season. In these seven video games, Booker shot 71-of-133 (53.4%) with 27.8 factors, 7.3 assists and three.3 turnovers per recreation. He did so whereas beginning alongside one participant, both Keita Bates-Diop or Chimezie Metu, that’s not within the NBA.
In the 9 video games with out Durant this yr, Booker is taking pictures 42.4% (72-of-170) with 25.2 factors, six assists and a couple of.6 turnovers per recreation.
We at the moment are past the “he all the time begins sluggish” and past the “he’s most likely harm and simply wants a break” parts of the proceedings. Diagnosing precisely what’s impacting Booker goes past what we’re seeing on the court docket, and that simply will get into reckless hypothesis. Booker, even on horrible groups, was capable of rise above the circumstances round him and play at a really excessive degree.
It’s coming. He will return to that kind quickly sufficient. We have to get just a few extra months into this season, even perhaps right through it, earlier than we belief a handful of weeks over a decade.
At the second, although, he can’t. And that’s on a significantly better group whereas additionally coming off back-to-back video games when Phoenix’s supporting forged has performed nicely.
Royce O’Neale scored a career-high 23 factors within the beginning lineup whereas Grayson Allen hit 5 3s and Monte Morris added a dozen factors for a bench unit that outscored Miami 47-22 with out Ryan Dunn (left ankle soreness) and Jusuf Nurkic (proper thigh contusion).
But the Suns’ defensive lapses are so pronounced for the time being that the lulls can swing complete video games, similar to their final two losses. Phoenix has been so engaged and strong defensively by way of 1 / 4 of the season that it was straightforward to forged apart preseason fears of the Suns’ major weak point approaching that finish. But if these disconnected stretches proceed, it was too early to make that form of declaration.
Miami punked the Suns within the second half bodily, dwelling within the paint. The Heat produced 62 factors within the paint to the Suns’ 32, and Phoenix was solely +5 on the foul line.
Booker’s scattered effectivity is when it might be large for the Suns to get star performances from Bradley Beal however he couldn’t do it on Saturday. Beal shot 5-of-18.
All 5 Heat starters scored a minimum of 14 factors and mixed to shoot 61.7%.
