One game after scoring a season-high 38 points against the Celtics, Devin Booker set a new high with 46 points in the Suns’ 115-101 win over the 76ers on Monday night. But he wasn’t on pace to torch Philly from the start. Instead, he had to power through a cold start before heating up.
Booker started off ice cold
In the first quarter, the Suns super scorer shot just 1-for-10 from the field. The same player who once scored 70 points in a game had only four to show against the 76ers. It looked like he was on pace for just a modest scoring game at best.
And then, he caught fire
From the second quarter on, Booker looked like the All-Star he’s destined to be. The Suns’ guard shot 16-of-22 — that’s 72.7 percent — from the field for 44 points in the final three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Booker scored 24 of Phoenix’s last 31 points. At a certain point, it just got flat-out disrespectful.
Devin Booker is a star, no question about it.
— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) December 5, 2017
(via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/6QDyIlpOnH
This is an UNREAL heater for Devin Booker. Season-high 44 points after this , has scored last 24 of Suns 31 points. pic.twitter.com/KSUj1awOFS
— ToO MANY GAMES ON (@World_Wide_Wob) December 5, 2017
This is why shooters keep shooting
Kobe Bryant said it best. He would rather go 1-for-30 than 1-for-9 because going 1-for-9 means you lost your confidence. Booker started the night 1-for-10 but finished with 46 points on 17-of-32 shooting. If you’ve ever struggled in class before, you know how hard it is to pull your average up from a D to an A.
That’s what Booker did on Monday night.
Sometimes shots won’t drop, and that’s OK. Because if you keep shooting, eventually one will fall. And once one does, well, just look at what happened with Booker.