PHOENIX - The Milwaukee Bucks breathed neck down the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, once threatening to erase a 15-point lead and go back home with a series split, the Suns relied on the man who ticks off Chris Paul when He's not going to do exactly the same thing he did in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
shoot. And shoot some more.
Devin Booker scored nine of his team's high 31 points in the final frame, hitting a trio of triples in time to block the Bucks' return attempt. Beyond the arc was a historic night as a team in the 118-108 win.
Phoenix coach Monty Williams said of Booker, "Those are the moments he lives for." "It doesn't run away. ... He just steps up and makes big plays."
The Bucks began the fourth quarter with a 6–2 lead to reduce the Suns' lead to six when Booker, slamming 7-footer Brooke Lopez in the face, sank a sidestep 3 and took the lead to 9. With pushed to nine. :41 left.
A few minutes later, after Milwaukee pulled within seven, he hit back-to-back 3s in the span of 31 seconds to extend the lead to 13, sending the crowd into frenzy.
And it drove the Bucks down the hole of the series 2-0.
"Every time Buc hits a 3 or something, you can just tell it melts them," said Sons guard Michal Bridges, who scored 27 about Milwaukee. "[They were thinking] like, 'Dang, there we were.'"
It was Booker's eighth game, with the Phoenix scoring more than 30 points in these playoffs out of 18 games played for the championship round. He has 490 total points in this postseason rank for a player competing in his first playoff, leaving only Rick Barry (521) and Julius Irving (518) behind, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research.
"The thing about Devin, he shoots the same way in the first quarter, the fourth quarter, no matter what, his shot looks the same," Williams said. "He's a guy who put a ton of work into his shot, but the mindset, he's calm in those moments. So, we're grateful for those contributions in those moments."
Paul, who complemented Booker's aggressive outburst with 23 points and eight assists of his own, was pointed slightly higher with the bar set for his 24-year-old teammate.
"If the book shoots it, I hope it goes in," Paul said. "I get angry at him when he doesn't shoot."
Booker finished 7-12 out of 3 in a single night, his team scoring 20-for-40, breaking the record for the second-most 3 scored in a final game.
"I mean, people work on it," Williams said of his group's output. "We have a flying mindset."
Booker started 2-for-10 after hitting 10 of his last 15 attempts, getting faster as the game progressed. He became the sixth player in the history of the Finals to finish with 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and five 3s – Stephen Curry (who did it four times), Kevin Durant (twice), LeBron James, Drummond Green and Rashard joined Lewis.
But while teammates were astonished by his game—"He's not going to run away from any fight, fight, situation that the basketball court presents," said Jay Crowder—Booker credits it to the people he works with. The court shares.
"It's just the team," Booker said. "Team basketball. I think some [shots] were open, and we prepared for these moments."
As for Paul, who is within reach of the title he has been chasing for 16 years, he said he appreciated teaming up with Booker in that pursuit.
"He's just in attack mode throughout the game," Paul said. "And that's what I love about him."