Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns drives around Luguentz Dort #5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter of the Emirates NBA Cup game at Paycom Center on November 15, 2024 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.(Photo by William Purnell/Getty Images)
The shorthanded Phoenix Suns are going to be stuck in the mud until Devin Booker can lift them out of it and he wasn’t capable of doing so in Friday’s 99-83 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Without Grayson Allen (right hamstring soreness), Bradley Beal (left calf strain) and Kevin Durant (left calf strain) again, the Suns put forth a woeful offensive performance.
Booker had 12 points (2-for-10) with four assists and four turnovers. He is now shooting 28-for-68 (41.2%) in the four games Durant has missed.
The spacing, even when Beal was back, is totally different without Durant. Booker has not been able to adjust effectively enough to pinpoint his proper tempo, and even with all the extra bodies sent his way, we’ve seen him still thrive through this in the past.
What would help him tremendously is the supporting cast making shots to create some relief for him to find his scoring pocket easier but this is now three out of the last four games in which that hasn’t happened. The Suns were 9-for-37 (24.3%) from 3 with 17 assists and 14 turnovers.
Booker has made a living off being an exquisite shot-maker no matter the difficulty and he hasn’t been at that level, which is where he has to be to produce versus these coverages. And he’s always going to make the right play, as he has said since these defenses came for him. So his teammates have to start converting because the ball is not going to stop coming their way. One of those two parts of the equation will have to change or this is how it’s going to keep looking until Durant returns.
Thunder cruise past Suns
Phoenix (9-4) had a terrible first quarter, trailing 29-12, something hard to believe when you consider it only turned the ball over once against a prolific defense in that regard. The Suns were 1-of-11 from 3, with all 10 of those misses coming from five each for Ryan Dunn and Tyus Jones.
As teams have done since Durant got hurt, Booker is seeing helpers creeping closer and closer in his direction. OKC took it to the point where, at any moment in the half-court when Booker was pacing himself, the second guy was ready to swarm. He did what he is supposed to do, move the ball for an open shot, but those shots did not fall.
On top of that, Booker needed a hot start to find his scoring touch early, but he was 0-for-6 in the opening period. OKC’s Luguentz Dort has always been one of the best perimeter defenders on Booker the last couple of years and the effort from Dort plus a few other great Thunder defenders stifled Booker.
Booker didn’t score until the third quarter. He hadn’t had a scoreless first half since 295 games and five seasons ago on December 23, 2019, per Stathead.
Expectations for this Suns contest were real low without key players against the West’s best and a squad that is on pace to be an all-time regular season defense but Booker has to find his star form quickly. This conference does not rest for anyone, and a slumping few weeks could really be the difference between the play-in and an automatic playoff spot if promising beginnings for teams like the Grizzlies, Lakers, Kings, Rockets and Warriors are maintained.
OKC (11-2) was not good in this game, allowing the Suns to only be down a dozen at the half despite shooting 26.8%. It eventually found enough success off Suns misses to bump its lead up to 20 midway through the third quarter.
The Thunder did not have any centers, missing Isaiah Hartenstein (left hand fracture), Chet Holmgren (right iliac wing fracture) and Jaylin Williams (right hamstring strain). Alex Caruso (right hip soreness) has spent some time as their small-ball 5 but he was out too. Phoenix tried to take advantage with Jusuf Nurkic and he shot 0-for-7 and 4-for-8 from the foul line.
Nurkic is now 1-of-18 in his last three games. When adding qualifiers onto Stathead’s span finder that goes back to the 1975-76 season, filtering in a three-game stretch for a center who attempted at least 15 shots in that span, Nurkic’s 5.6% field goal percentage is the worst ever. Two centers previously shot 6.3% (1-of-16). Nurkic has been toughing it out through a left ankle issue but that is staggering inefficiency.
This loss in NBA Cup play dropped the Suns to a 1-1 record. They’ll most likely have to be perfect from here on out in their final two games to qualify for the knockout stage.