On January 15, Beijing time, the 2021-22 NBA regular season is in full swing. In today's focus battle, the Pacers host a challenge from the Suns. In today's game, the Pacers prepared a "gift" for Suns star Booker, a bankrupt version of the Raptors mascot.
As we all know, in the previous Suns away game against the Raptors, Booker and the Raptors mascot had some friction. During one of Booker's free throws, the Raptors mascot became the only fan on the scene, and he stood behind the basket to distract Booker, which frustrated Booker.
Booker said after the game: "We've settled, we're close now. I tried to get it not to stand in my way, and it worked. I'm glad I didn't have him standing there when I shot. In that game, Booker played 36 minutes, shooting 4-of-13 from the field and having 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal. Most interestingly, Booker also changed his social media profile picture to a photo of the Raptors mascot after the game.
And in today's game, maybe the Pacers were hoping to upset Booker's mentality, so they followed the Raptors' approach. The most interesting scene happened in The Second Quarter, when Booker stood at the free throw line and he repeatedly signaled to the staff: Bring him up! In this way, Booker has completely "overcome" the shadow that the mascot has brought to him.