PHOENIX – Suns guard Devin Booker was disappointed after the team relinquished home court advantage by losing Game 1 to the Los Angeles Clippers. To divert his attention from the loss Booker indulged in one of his favorite hobbies.
“I just got on Call of Duty and blew some steam off,” a smiling Booker said postgame.
Booker might want to play Call of Duty following every game if he performs like he did on Tuesday night.
Booker scored a game-high 38 points and dished out a game-high nine assists in the Suns’ 123-109 victory over the Clippers to tie their Western Conference opening round playoff series at 1-1.
The Clippers and Suns were tied 59-59 at the start of the third quarter. Booker scored the first two points of the quarter as the Suns went on a quick 6-0 run. And he was just getting started. The Suns shooting guard connected on seven of his eight field goal attempts and scored 18 points in the quarter.
“Book scored in a number of different ways. When he’s going like that, I think the team feeds off his high-level play,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.
All five Suns starters scored in double figures
Booker led the way, but the Suns got a big lift from Torrey Craig. The Clippers often left him open from behind the arc and he made them pay. Craig was 5 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 17 points in the win.
“Craig made just about every big shot for us tonight,” Chris Paul said postgame. “It’s the timing of the shots. Something when a team got a chance to cut it from six to four or three (points), Craig would hit a three to put us up nine. It was the timing of the shots that he made. That’s big in this series.”
Kevin Durant had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists. Deandre Ayton had 14 points and Paul contributed with 16 points and eight assists.
“We just be playing basketball,” Paul said. “You think about KD, everybody always calls him a basketball purest. We got a lot of us like that. If a two is open we are gonna take it. If a three is open, we are gonna take that, too. We just hoop. We try to make sure we got the most points at the end of the game.”
Paul made a 19-foot step-back jumper with a little over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Suns a 121-109 advantage. The basket pretty much iced the game for Phoenix.
Star battle between Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant
Durant got the victory in the score column, but Kawhi Leonard was a force on both ends for the second straight game.
Late in the first quarter, Leonard stole the ball from Durant, dribbled up court and proceeded to dunk on the Suns star.
Leonard had a team-high 31 points in the loss. The on-court battle between the two (when they guard each other) is one to watch.
Russell Westbrook shoots better percentage from the field
Westbrook was more efficient in Game 2 in the aftermath of a 3-for-19 shooting night in the series opener. Westbrook scored 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting and made all eight of his free throws.
Game 3
The Clippers and Suns will head to Los Angeles with the series knotted up 1-1. Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Devin Booker goes off, Suns defeat Clippers in Game 2: What we learned
