Devin Booker speaks on avoiding trying to force the offense. when defenses double-team him.
The Phoenix Suns were held below 100 points for the first time this season during Friday night’s 99-83 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Phoenix was limited to shooting 29.3% and Devin Booker was held to just 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting. After the game, he discussed being held scoreless for the first half and his offensive struggles while being double-teamed, per AZ Central’s Duane Rankin.
“(The Thunder) were trapping me. We made some shots early; we were getting some good looks. I’m not in the business of trying to go score over double and triple teams. You wanna make the right play and hopefully, we make shots. Make ’em pay.”
Rankin followed up by asking if Booker felt there might’ve been a moment when he needed to make a play to get a bucket to get the team back into it.
“Nah, I left those in my early years. If you look at the championship teams, you need four or five guys out there that are threats. And you make people pay for putting two on the ball. You get off or you get open on the backside. We had some open looks and we just didn’t make any of ’em.
“I probably generated more open looks than what I shot. There’s going to be nights like this where we’re down some people so they’re going to throw two and three people at me. But I just need to continue making the right play. If we make shots early, hit a few threes, then they have to get out of those defenses.”
Throughout the interview, Booker was calm, but his frustration with the Suns’ performance was palpable.
Suns on skid with three losses in last four
With Kevin Durant (calf) and Bradley Beal (foot) sidelined with injuries, the Suns are slipping, having lost three of their last four games.
Josh Okogie led the Suns with 15 points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal. He played 30 minutes for the first time this season. He also scored 25 points in Wednesday’s 127-104 loss to the Sacramento Kings.
Phoenix certainly needs more out of Jusuf Nurkic. He went 0-for-7 from the field in 29 minutes with four points and eight rebounds. Booker finished with an atrocious -29 in plus/minus. In comparison, Lu Dort led the Thunder by going +23 over his 32 minutes.
The Suns were short-handed, so they called Royce O’Neale, Oso Ighodaro and Monte Morris off the bench for 20+ minutes.
Phoenix closes out a four-game road trip on Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They will host their next six contests with matchups against the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, and San Antonio Spurs.