Devin Booker Elite As Phoenix Suns Score ‘We’re Better Than You’ Win In New Orleans

Devin Booker Elite As Phoenix Suns Score ‘We’re Better Than You’ Win In New Orleans

On Friday night in New Orleans the Phoenix Suns scored the best type of win in the NBA a we’re better than you win and Devin Booker led the way with 52 points on today’s episode of lockon suns we’ll break down Booker’s incredible night the keys to his success and why

The Suns just looked flat out better than another Western Conference power let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day and we’re back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we are part of the lockon podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons riter ATS suns.com and the host of the just basketball show where wherever you

Get your podcast a big thank you for making locked on suns your first listen to start off well Saturday evening we’ll call it Sunday’s episode appreciate you being here we’re free and available everywhere including YouTube so just hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you’re finding the show become an every

Dayer get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all season long right along with me doing a bonus show today I had to you don’t see a win like that every night and the Suns surely have not seen wins like that often enough this season a we’re better than you win and I know

I’ve said that many times but already but it is true and I’m excited to break it down for you we’re going to talk two moments of the game the first and third quarter different reasons for why the suns were able to dominate New Orleans and then I’ll talk through just

Why this win was so impressive and give you some quick observations on the box score and more but Today’s Show brought to you by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy Sports go to prix.com lockon NBA use the code locked on NBA all lowercase for a

First deposit match up to $100 all right two moments that define this game that help the Suns walk away with the win and a really impressive win right like I know it’s against the Lakers people wanted to say oh it’s just the Lakers yes it’s a

Rival yes it’s LeBron but it’s not a very good team and I know people were going to probably do the same now and even Suns fans might feel like Hey how excit can we really get you measure Yourself by beating the best the Pelicans are not the best and that’s

Fine but we’ll get there in a minute the first moment of the game happened in the first quarter where frankly it was one of those nights where it felt over early you fast forward to the end of the first quarter and for people who have been

Suns fans for years that is that is Booker time it always has been and it’s back to being that he loves to play the first the whole first quarter and they are structuring the rotation now where beill comes out first Durant stays in a little longer but then

Durant comes out and there are these stretches two maybe three minutes to close out every first quarter now where it is it’s just booking the bench or at least book in and and role players I sometimes Grayson Allen will be out there ner maybe too and in this particular case it was

Really just the last minute the Pelicans put Dyson Daniels on him and a couple things happened Booker scored two buckets against Daniels one a mid-range jumper and one a sort of I guess a jumper sort of fall away but it was in the post and you just saw

Daniels look I mean he was in Hell there’s no other way to to to put it right he he just looked like what am I supposed to do here looked exhausted frankly and honestly I would say Booker did too which is the the the great part the the awesome

Part because Booker’s red in the face he’s scored 20 points or I don’t remember exactly in the first quarter I think it was 20 and in the first and the third because he was only two of seven from the field in the second quarter in the fourth quarter he didn’t have to

Play much so 52 you know added up all in total I think it was 20 plus in both of those quarters and so he’s exhausted from that but he still has something in the tank to rope a doe Daniels the mid-range jumper was pure Booker footwork Booker unpredictability to where Daniels is on

Him it’s not like he breaks his ankles or Daniels just gets caught up on a screen or something he’s right there he doesn’t even get a hand up to contest it because there was he had no idea when Booker was going to rise up for the shot

And book it’s a clean look off then in the post it’s just shoulder shoulder Fall Away money we’ve seen that a million times but the point I’m making about this Booker stretch is he was at the absolute peak of his powers when Booker is playing like he was on Friday

Night not only is there nobody who can guard him there’s nobody who even knows what the heck doing there’s nobody who can even mentally keep up with him and we have not seen a game like that from this dude much at all this season and man was at a

Sight for S eyes the other thing that happened at the end of that first quarter though was that Zion Williamson decided okay I’m going to score now and he got a couple of buckets and it was just flat out too late the Pelicans best players did not

Start the game with the level of aggressiveness that they needed to to keep up and the Suns scored 40 plus in that quarter were up double digits 15 or so and it was done the other moment of the game I know I said it was done but look

The Pelicans any team even if you’re down 20 you have a chance coming out of halftime to do exactly what your opponent did early in the game in the first place and make it close the Pelicans did not do that but in particular what stood out to me

Is everything about the Suns game plan and I’ll go into this a little more in the next segment was centered on attacking yonas Valen chunis and so after a couple of buckets in which the Suns aggressively took advantage of him hedging out onto the perimeter and the p trying to basically

Get the ball out of the ball Handler’s hands in the pick and roll and Booker in particular but really everybody on the team making them pay for that they they had a quick pull on valent chunis at the beginning of the third I think it was

About five and a half four and a half minutes in five four five minutes whatever early and they go to Nance they go small the Suns keep nkit in the game and then eventually they would go to udoka asabuki they basically said no we’re not matching your small look we’re going to

Stay big if you listen to the audio exclusive game preview shows that I’ve been doing Fridays predicted that that this game might actually be played bigger rather than smaller and the Suns lived up to that and in this moment you saw why because Booker scored on a nance switch

The suns were still able to get the ball movement to such a and decision- making to such a level that even Nance being a little bit quicker a little bit um more agile Nimble they were still able to get the ball to the uh rolling big man on

The short roll for a spray out to a shooter they were still able to get their ball handlers downhill and I believe they fouled the Pelicans fouled nurkic during this stretch on uh loose ball because he was killing them on the offensive boards this moment was just UST of the

Fact that the Pelicans weren’t even able to work their advantages right so just like in the end of the first quarter when Zion was like oh Booker’s going off I probably should try to score here they had the same realization in the third quarter of man they’re crushing

JV and his slow footedness and everything else let’s adjust here and the sun said shut up basically it doesn’t your your adjustments we don’t care and they punished it too this was was a we’re better than you game and those two moments showed it but it wasn’t just those two moments this Suns

Team was dominant this was their best win of the season on Friday night so let’s just talk about how they were able to dominate and why they were able to dominate to such a degree next first Today’s Show brought to you by eBay Motors our partners at

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Want to follow up on what I was saying about the game plan right this is a game where you would have thought Chris Paul was still out there is actually maybe the best way to put it the Suns Collective IQ and ex ution picking at a weakness of their opponent

Is something I think we got used to and maybe took for granted when Chris Paul was around but on Friday night it was on full display and the guy they were picking apart the weak point that they were going after was was Jonas valent chunis I’ve been fluctuating there’s

Been a lot of times where I want to say the suns are at their best when Yousef ner is more involved and I think I’m ready to say a more accurate version of that based on what we saw on Friday and how they attacked Valen chunis in some matchups the

Suns need to go to nurkic in order to be at their best and he has proven that he can answer the call in those matchups is that more fair because this was one of those matchups right away you saw the sons getting rid of the ball the The

Playmakers on this team getting rid of the ball quickly on the in the pick and roll the minute that valent chunis moved his feet out to the perimeter to try to hedge get the ball out of their hands they said okay great balls out of our hands and nurkic did a fantastic job

Making decisions where is the pass going to go maybe do I shoot it whatever he gets nine assists only three turnovers and then one level above that if you were watching that third quarter and wondering how on Earth after a huge first quarter and a decent second

Quarter for the Suns they’re up uh 17 at halftime how does Booker get going again how do they let that happen the answer is they took the ball out of his hands the Suns did but they were still able to get him open shots because of how they manipulated the Pelicans help defense

It’s not just to take advantage of valent chunis and him coming out of the play and getting nurkic going downhill playing four on well yeah four on three with the guard Defender and valent chunis now behind the play it’s also about what the help looks like after

That and what the suns were awesome at doing was to have Booker stationed when Beal or Durant were running a pick and roll and valent chunis moved his feet like that and nurkic rolled even if nurkic did not even ever catch the ball in the play

What happens is you have to help on the back side of that because even if again nurkic doesn’t actually catch it he’s now running downhill in open space and he’s seven feet tall and if he catches it he can just dunk it so you have to

Help where does that help come from well typically it’s going to come from the weak side and typically it’s going to come from your best help Defenders and Herb Jones was guarding Booker often in this game and Herb Jones was the one tagging nurkic and so what did the Suns do they

Looked for Booker and Booker was really good about moving once Jones committed to being that helper into open space and so the suns were able to get Booker open threes despite a massive first first half because of that that’s the type of thing that great teams execute and use their talent to

Make possible the Suns did that I hesitate to go overboard on the defense I think that the Pelicans just played a pretty hapless offensive game I think that they missed a lot of open shots I do think you can criticize and say that Zion and Ingram did not come

Out a aggressive enough early and the and the Pelicans were sort of letting the game come to them on offense even as it became clear that um the suns were hot and the Suns brought it but I think the biggest and best thing you would have to say about the Suns as

A defensive unit is that the effort and execution was really really high level okay I think that the Suns had in terms of just their core lineups being on a string rotating and contesting and making plays some of their best defensive moments of the season they didn’t have to put Josh aogi

Out there or Jordan Goodwin out there or you know it wasn’t some crazy Drew Eubanks block from behind this was the starters or the starters minus one with Gordon in there just doing what needed to be done to provide resistance to provide help to get Steals and blocks and deflections and

Stops and I tweeted a clip that I think was in the middle of the first quarter was one of the better defensive Suns possessions of the season they initially it is Brandon Ingram catching a the the ball off of a pin down guarded by Durant Durant cuts

Through the screen stays with Ingram on the catch so that he doesn’t have a free shot or a free drive at the basket Grayson Allen stunts in really really fast swipes at the ball to just kind of again affect Ingram’s Rhythm as Ingram does gather and start to go

Toward the basket you see Booker aggressively helping from the corner and the minute he moves the minute Booker moves Eric Gordon is beining it for the corner Ingram reads Booker throws it to the corner who Booker just left but Gordon’s already there gets the deflection after

That the Pelin get the loose ball they reset for some reason Ingram has the ball and he’s guarded by Booker and he asks for a screen and ends up guarded by Durant again I don’t know why he did that and then you see Ingram get a step

On dur Durant drive to the basket but at the last last second Durant smacks down on you know Andre Gala style whoever you want to use the comparison to kawhai style gets the ball out of Ingram’s hands nurkic catches it Outlet pass to Booker he throws it to Eric Gordon on

The trail Gordon pump fakes and it’s a fast break bucket on the other end those are the types of plays we have not seen we have not seen the level of offensive execution the sun’s only turned the ball over eight times in this game we have not seen a Booker

Performance like that that resulted from some of that execution and and everything and we have not seen a defensive game where they executed and played as hard as they did the other thing I would just say in terms of why this was a we are better

Than you win is the Suns did not overreact personnel-wise right I I talked a lot one thing I got wrong talked a lot in the preview show on the audio feeds about Booker or sorry about Zion on and what the Suns might try to do what the Suns did was actually just

Not treat Zion like much of a threat Bradley Beal guarded him a lot of this game at least to open the sun’s core game plan was Beal guarding him they switched a ton like I thought they would but they basically treated Ingram as the only guy worth

Panicking about they left herb Jones to take threes open even though he’s really made teams pay for that he was one of six you know they did Panic against valent chunis he had a pretty valent chunis like game 16 points four offensive rebounds six free throw

Attempts but okay you live you live with it and all in all it worked so personel wise they they they treated they acted they walked into New Orleans building and they acted they held themselves like they were the best team and they executed to make that come

True a couple more quick things in terms of the box score and the rotation to get to before we get out of here on this bones edition of lock on suns first Today’s Show brought to you by prize picks the best place to play daily fantasy sports and I will tell you why

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Matched up to $100 that’s Pro prize.com promo code locked on to get a first deposit match up to $100 prize picks daily fantasy sports Made Easy closing out the show let’s talk threes the sun’s got up 41 of them and I I think a couple things are the

Reason won the ball movement right they had 32 assists in this game which is huge a huge number and look it does help when there is such an easy target like Valen chunis and the way that he plays defense and even the way they kind of did the same

Thing when Nance was out there and you’re ready for it and again you execute it the ball movement’s naturally going to come when the game plan is based on moving the ball right so not to let them off the hook but the Pelicans give you they kind of serve up

Some ball movement opportunities but that’s not it they also played fast and they looked for their Shooters in transition Durant Gordon Allen Booker and Beal the last point though and this is again regarding Booker the last way that they were able to get a bunch of Threes up is that they

Booker hunted that shot I’ve said it before I will say it again and I will never stop saying it Booker is at his best when he is aggressive with his pull-up three that’s it end of story Booker is at his best when he’s hunting his pull-up three because

It it is another way that he becomes it’s an unguardable shot if you get a good screen and you’re in momentum in Rhythm you can get it up against any kind of Defense you know ask Steph Curry ask Damen Lillard it it it’s it’s defense proof so

When teams are I mean there was moments in this game where whether it was off ball or on inbounds passes or whatever the Pelicans had literally two people on him like assigned to him basically when you’re able to come off screens and and take a shot like that it

Allows you to continue to score even when the defense is keyed into you but the other thing it does is it makes you less predictable when you’re operating in the pick and roll in the first place or in transition because it makes teams respect and step up on you and we know

He can beat guys and from there it’s just Dyson Daniels in the blender again not knowing what the heck is going on head on a swivel wanting to just check himself out of the game because he’s in he’s being tortured right so that pull-up three unlocks all of that and

That was the last ingredi to how they were able to get so many up so that’s the box score audity for the night let’s just do a benchmob Vibe check look guys I uh I wish it was better news when it comes to this rotation but it is currently

Not it is not great news the Suns had I mean they didn’t have to they chose to play their starters even into the fourth quarter despite being up 20 heading into the fourth quarter obviously you do that for a few minutes but it was pretty deep into it because outside of Gordon vogul

Just hardly even ran a bench in this game metu played 14 minutes asabuki played 12 Gordon was the only guy over 15 and only really those eight guys played at all aogi did get some run in the competitive parts of the game but again we’re we’re kind of in the zone

With him of it’s 10 to 12 to 15 minutes it’s it’s not going to be more than that and on some nights might even be less Fogle is desperately pleading for somebody on this team to step up the suns are proving with all the things I’ve talked about already that they can

Win a game with basically you know six and a half seven guys and it’ll be okay but you don’t want to have to do that you know and at some point there’s going to be a team that pushes the Suns team and we will see a game where we

Feel like the big three are excellent we feel like the suns are doing what they need to do on both ends of the Court keeping turnovers down rebounding well moving the ball well playing with good Pace all that stuff and a team might still push them or maybe even beat them

And those are the nights where we’re going to say it there has to be some somebody else here and we’re not seeing who that’s going to be right now it’s unclear there’s not a lot of answers but that will wrap us up for the day hope

You enjoyed how could you not an awesome Sun’s Victory I will be back on Sunday night following Suns Pacers I will also have a preview show on the audio feeds before that game we’re seeing SE yakum and halberton I don’t know how this happened halberton was supposed to be

Hurt for this game SE yakum was a Toronto Raptor and now we’re seeing game number two of the hi SE yakum show in Phoenix they looked a little rusty we’re a little rough around the edges on Friday night in Portland maybe we’ll get that same result but that should be an

Awesome one I’ll be back with Brandon dwas on Sunday night reviewing and recapping that game so hit follow or subscribe if you haven’t already check back Sunday night and I will talk to you then for

Devin Booker was at the peak of his powers as the Phoenix Suns bullied the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down the W, including how Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal executed a killer game plan against the Pels. Then, a look at the high level effort on defense and the value of threes.

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