Devin Booker’s Game Winner Leads the Suns Past the Clippers

The Phoenix Suns upset the Los Angeles Clippers in a close game on Tuesday afternoon.

The Suns have shown up to the bubble with a positive attitude and so far they’ve gotten positive results. The Suns are the only Western Conference team in the bubble that is undefeated.

The Suns started off the game against the Clippers shooting efficiently and were playing like a playoff team. The Suns had control of the game from the start and the Clippers never could stop their run, although they played a great game.

The Suns defense got lazy towards the 4th quarter as the Clippers cut an 11 point lead into a tie with help from ‘The Claw’, Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi was a huge problem for Phoenix as it seemed like nobody could guard him and stop him from hitting shots and driving to the rim.

The Suns did not give up though and they had a nothing to lose mentality. With about 11 seconds left on the clock, Mikal Bridges, who had been performing great throughout the three games played so far, got a clutch steal and passed it out to Devin Booker who called an isolation play. Booker then drew a double team from two of the leagues best defenders in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. With the game tied at 115-115, Booker hit a pump fake on Leonard which caught him in the air, spun around and shot in the face of Paul George and scored to win the Suns the game.

George played great defense and contested the shot well, but Devin Booker showed his ‘Mamba Mentality’ and drained the shot right as the buzzer sounded, which won Phoenix the game against The Clippers.

The shot went viral and it was #1 trending on twitter for hours. The whole league showed support to Booker after hitting that magnificent shot. Former teammate and current Brooklyn Nets guard, Jamal Crawford, said that “Book is so cold”. Popular influencer and Suns fanatic, Brandon Awadis said that “Devin Booker [is] the closest thing we’ve seen to Kobe Bryant”, and many other public figures and players like Trae Young and Donovan Mitchell took to twitter to show love to Booker after the game winner.

After the game, Booker was interviewed and was asked about the shot and he stated “We wanted to get the last shot… We got the steal and the ball with 10 seconds, and I wanted to make sure I took the last shot, giving them no time on the other end… I knew the double team was coming, so I attacked the opposite way, there’s a lot of length over there with Kawhi, so I pump faked and got him in the air, and I took the fadeaway shot… I’m not a big celebration guy, you’ve seen me in the past when I’ve hit big shots… Usually in the past when I’ve got a big shot, I just want to move onto the next game and get off the court.”

Players like Jevon Carter, Deandre Ayton, and Ricky Rubio stood out for the Suns as well. Carter played great defense throughout the entirety of the game and had great hustle and he was looking for the win from the get go. Deandre Ayton showed how good he is, expanding his range, shooting threes and dominating in the paint as well, and Ricky Rubio improved the Suns with his amazing play making skills, setting up his teammates to score and scoring 18 himself.

The Clippers had some outstanding performers as well, including Ivica Zubac, who had a double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard who helped the Clippers cut an 11 point deficit with 27 points, and Paul George who had 23 points and played great defense in the second half. Although the Clippers were outplayed by the Suns, they still showed how great their team could be. Patrick Beverly went down early with some calf discomfort and Lou Williams was on a minute restriction, which means if the team was fully healthy and had no restrictions, they will most definitely be a championship contender.