Devin Booker posts first career triple-double in Suns Game 1 win over Clippers
Booker #Booker
Devin Booker didn’t let his team lose with Chris Paul being out under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Scoring 29 of his game-high 40 points in the second half, Booker posted his first career triple-double in leading the Phoenix Suns to a 120-114 Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to open the Western Conference finals at Phoenix Suns Arena.
Booker’s dunk with 14 seconds left and ensuing rebound sealed victory for Phoenix, which led by as many as 10 with 1:59 left in the game only to see the Clippers shrink the lead down to two with 22 seconds left.
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A sellout crowd of 16,583 watched Booker add 13 rebounds and 11 assists to just two turnovers in 44 minutes in posting his first career triple-double in his six NBA seasons, playoffs or regular season.
In short, Booker put the Suns on his back without his All-Star backcourt mate in Paul, who the Suns announced Tuesday was placed under the league’s health and safety protocols.
Paul joined the team on FaceTime to celebrate the win and also put Sunday’s win in perspective that it as just one victory.
Payne talked about the difference without Paul was not hearing the point guard talk all game, but the Suns could’ve used him to help them have an easier time closing the game.
The Clippers went on an 8-0 run to cut Phoenix’s 116-106 lead to two with 22 seconds remaining as Rajon Rondo had five points and assisted Mann’s 3 in the spurt.
After Williams called a timeout, the Suns scored immediately as Booker shook free for a dunk to make the difference four. Then Booker rebounded Nicolas Batum’s missed 3 with 6.5 seconds left after Bridges blocked Paul George’s layup on the same possession.
Shooting 15-of-29 from the field, Booker went 3-of-7 from 3 and 7-of-7 from the line.
Winners of eight straight games to further lengthen their franchise playoff record for most consecutive victories in the postseason, the second-seeded Suns topped their longest winning streak of the season, which was seven from March 26 to April 7.
The Clippers actually stopped that winning streak with a 113-103 win April 8 Los Angeles, but weren’t able to do it again in the postseason.
George paced the fourth-seeded Clippers 34 points as they were without Kawhi Leonard for a third straight game.
The first-team All-NBA selection has been out with a sprained right knee he suffered in Game 4 of the conference finals against the top-seeded Utah Jazz.
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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 posts first career triple-double in Suns Game 1 win over Clippers