Devin Booker delivers all-star performance as Suns crush Portland; now he awaits word on reserve picks
Booker #Booker
Devin Booker certainly showed he’s worthy of a second straight NBA all-star selection, leading the Suns as they crushed Portland 132-100 at Phoenix Suns Arena Monday.
Scoring 22 of his 34 points in the first half, Booker played one of his better games this season as the Suns (20-10) are now 9-1 in their last 10 games.
“There’s no doubt about it. No one can debate that Book’s not an all-star,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “End of story. The impact on winning, the numbers and we have a few wins. So from my perspective, I don’t think you’ll find any coach in the league that would debate that he isn’t an all-star. End of story.”
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The NBA will reveal its Eastern and Western Conference reserves Tuesday at 5 p.m. on TNT for the 2021 All-Star game March 7 in Atlanta. The league’s head coaches vote for two guards, three frontcourt players and two wildcards who can be any position.
Their vote was due earlier in the day Monday.
“We’ll see, man,” Booker said after Monday’s game. “It’s just something that you never know. I don’t do too much thinking about it. My main focus is getting wins for this team. It’d be an honor to make my second appearance but I guess we’ll see tomorrow.”
Booker and the Suns are certainly winning at a high level right now.
Winners of three straight, Phoenix led by as many as 37 points over Portland (18-12), losers of its last two after winning six in a row. The Suns topped their widest margin of victory, 31 points, set in Saturday’s 128-97 wallop at Memphis with another dominant display.
“If I gave you the secrets, I think every team would want to use it,” said Suns center Deandre Ayton, who finished with 19 points, five rebounds and two blocks Monday.
Phoenix stays home to face Charlotte (14-16) on Wednesday before beginning a three-game road trip Friday at Chicago (14-16).
“I can’t give you the secrets, but other than that, I’ll just give you the general, serious basis of just keeping each other accountable,” Ayton continued. “Being on top of each other. Your teammate expecting more from you than your coach. You playing alongside your brother knowing you have a brother for life. When you know you coming out here playing hard every game.”
Booker set the the tone for Monday’s win before 3,213 fans.
Aggressive early and often, Booker played with his back to the basket on the post area and got to the free throw line eight times, making all of them. He hit both of his 3 attempts as the second one came near the end of third quarter over two Blazers.
Booker ran back down court near the sideline holding up 3 signs as Ayton stood up and gave him five in celebration.
“D-Book has shown stuff like beyond all-star,” Ayton said. “He’s been an all-star. We’ve been known D-Book is a bucket, but him scoring the way he’s scoring and the way he’s carrying us and how he’s leading us through his style of play is insane.”
Phoenix led 100-71 after three quarters after outscoring Portland, 37-17, in the third.
“It went off track in the third quarter, which is an understatement,” said Blazers coach Terry Stotts as Portland shot only 30.4% from the field in the quarter, going 1-of-7 from 3 while Phoenix connected on 60.9% of its shots, hitting 5-of-8 3s.
Comfortably ahead, Booker sat the entire fourth quarter. Two points shy of tying his season high, Booker shot 12-of-17 from the field and added four rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes of play.
“The last two games have been really good for us,” Booker said. “Especially with this long season.”
Starting with the second of last weekend’s back-to-back at Memphis, the Suns have a game every other day through March 4 before the all-star break.
“We know there are a lot of games coming,” Booker later said. “I like the depth of our team for a schedule like this, but anytime you can get those extra 12 minutes of rest and not be out there is a big help. Big wins like that are important.”
Booker made his first NBA All-Star game appearance last season as an injury replacement to Portland’s Damian Lillard. League commissioner Adam Silver picks the injury replacements.
A season later, Lillard is healthy and looks to be a lock as a reserve as he’s a league MVP candidate along with LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Stephen Curry.
Averaging 30 points going into Monday’s game, Lillard, the league’s third leading scorer, went for 24 with 16 coming in the first half. He shot just 1-of-7 from 3.
Booker isn’t seen as an MVP candidate, but with Phoenix fourth in the West and him having a huge say in that, the Suns star guard is definitely in the running to make a second straight all-star appearance.
“You see what he does game in and game out,” Suns wing Mikal Bridges said. “Leads us to wins. He deserves it, man. That’s all I got to say.”
Chris Paul will look to make his 11th all-star appearance as he’s been instrumental in Phoenix’s push to make the postseason for the first time since 2010.
The 16-year veteran point guard had just two points on 1-of-9 shooting Monday, but had a game-high nine assists.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Devin Booker delivers all-star performance as Suns crush Portland; now he awaits word on reserve picks