NEW YORK — A look of relief and happiness is engraved on Booker Devinthe face of the inside phoenix sun‘ dressing room after the previous 116-112 win brooklyn network on Tuesday night.
After missing a month and a half while recovering from a groin injury in last Christmas Eve’s loss Denver nuggetsBooker returned to score 19 points after 26 minutes as the Suns won their third game in a row.
“That’s all I wanted there, man,” Booker said. “Just compete, get back with the band, feel that energy, feel that presence. Right now, the group is active, so just insert myself in a non-disruptive way and try.” maintain the flow they have.”
Booker’s return has given the Suns an emotional boost and continues to build confidence in a team that has struggled with injuries to key players throughout the season.
Suns coach Monty Williams said: “Devin’s attitude has always been that he just wanted to eat. “Kill and eat. That’s how he operates. And he’s the winner. And he wants to do everything he can to win the game. I think the others have gotten a lot of energy. from him tonight just on the floor. Everyone’s excited about that he’s back.”
Booker’s return is almost a step back from the Nets’ second-year guard Cam Thomas‘ Scoring roll in progress. Thomas, 21, became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in three consecutive games after scoring 43 points in Tuesday’s loss.
“It’s surreal,” Thomas said. “I’m happy to put my name in the history books, at this young age. Obviously I’d rather win because it sounds better when you have 40-point matches against both.” [games] that we lost.
“But it’s good to have a name in history, I’ll take it up… just be proud of all the hard work you’ve put in.”
Thomas is not the only player to give career numbers on Tuesday. sun big man Deanre Ayton ended career with 35 points and chipped in 15 bounces. Like many people in the Suns dressing room, Ayton was excited to see Booker back in the ring, but also motivated by some outside noise about his own game.
“I understand what people say about me,” Ayton said. “I’ve had a bad start to the season. If it wasn’t for an ankle injury it was some other illness or some bullshit that got in my way.
“And this is like a more adversarial season for me and shows what kind of player I really am and I just stick with it and get rid of all the noise, the haters and all that stuff. Just go back to what I do best, and that’s just dominating.”
With Booker’s return, the Suns are confident they can keep winning as they head into the All-Star break and beyond.
“We are happy, we are not complaining”, Suns Guard Chris Paul talk about bringing back Booker. “We didn’t have a season where — we had a player starting last year who wasn’t even on the team. [in Jae Crowder]. I was out, Devin was out, Cam Payne was out, Cam Johnson had surgery and is back. So we want whoever we can put on the pitch, especially Devin.”
