On March 24, 2016, Kobe Bryant met rookie Devon Booker in the locker room, an encounter that Booker will never forget. After the game, Bryant gave Booker a pair of his own 11th-generation signature shoes, and the legendary superstar left an epic message on the sneakers: "Be Legendary."
Devon Booker never hid his admiration for Kobe. Later, Booker tattooed the Be Legendary on his arm. Playing on the pitch, Booker would also write this sentence on his boots.
"Kobe Bryant has always been my idol, and through his own actions, he has told me how to play and how to succeed, which will bring great help to me in my future career."
On January 27, the Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz 105-97 on the road to win eight straight. On the same day two years ago, the NBA lost a legend and a mentor forever. Whether you're a Kobe fan or not, you have to admit that you inspired a generation of players, and you have to respect his momentum, his competitive mentality. Booker is not Kobe Bryant, but on such a meaningful night for Booker, his performance has become legendary.
Devin Booker wore the Kobe 5 to cut 43 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists, which was the 16th time in Booker's career that he scored 40+ and surpassed Amare Stoudemire as the Suns' history with the most 40+ in a single game. Chris Paul, who had 21 points and five assists, teamed up to score six points at key moments in the fourth quarter for the Suns to establish the win.
The Suns' current record is 38 wins and 9 losses, ranking first in the league, which is the Suns' best start to date.
When Paul was traded to the Suns last season, with a scorching moment in the game, deciding who Booker or Paul would be the final finisher wasn't an easy task.
At present, this already has an intuitive answer. When Booker's first three quarters were in full swing, Paul finally made up his mind. In the game against the Jazz, Booker quickly entered the form as soon as he started, unstoppable. He contributed 21 points and four assists in the first quarter to help the team establish a lead early, and 30 of the Suns' 39 points in the first quarter were related to him. The Jazz did not retreat. In the second quarter, led by Jordan Clarkson, the Jazz responded with a wave of 30-11, basically closing the trailing point gap before halftime.
In the fourth quarter of the game, the Jazz briefly chased the gap to only 2 points, but at the last minute, Paul and Booker once again showed strong key ball ability, and finally the Suns won twice over the Jazz in 3 days. 15 of Paul's points came from the fourth quarter.
Booker said: "It feels good now, it's a learning process. I remember at first it wasn't so easy, we went through a lot of trial and error, but now I think we've been through enough situations that we know what we're going to face on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. ”
Booker kept the Suns in offensive pace in the first three quarters, but he didn't shoot until the fourth quarter, until there were about 4 minutes left in the game before he made his first shot, but unfortunately he missed a layup. Paul took over the burden of the Suns' offense with his mid-range jumper, breaking through the basket and walking to the free throw line.
"You only build that trust by playing together, like in a game like this with close scores." Paul said.
At 94-92, Booker hit a shot, Hassan Whiteside scored a two-pointer and booked a free throw. With 1 minute and 21 seconds left in the game, Booker scored two more points to give the Suns a seven-point lead.
So far this season, the Suns have averaged 28.4 points per game in the final quarter, the highest in the league, shooting 49.3% in the final quarter, also at the top of the league. This season, the Suns have had many final-season harvesting games. For example, last week's games against the Pacers and Spurs, they all won in the final quarter; for example, the game against the Jazz on the 25th, they played 20-10 in the first 6 minutes to reverse the situation again.
After the Suns experienced the baptism of the Finals, the team transformed again, and Booker made a huge leap forward in his seventh season with the Suns.
Booker is such a good scorer. Now Booker is one of the most diverse scorers in terms of shooting hot zone charts. In this day and age, most players' shooting options are concentrated on three-pointers and baskets, while he still works in the mid-range and performs well.
Booker averaged 6.2 mid-range shots per game and ranked fourth in the league (after DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Durant and Brandon Ingram) with a shooting percentage of 47.6 percent and third among players who averaged at least five shots per game in the mid-range (after DeRozan and Durant).
In terms of long-range shooting, Booker is not bad. He averaged 6.9 three-pointers per game and shot 37.7 percent from the field, the highest three-point shooting percentage in the last four seasons. Had it not been for his 3-of-13 three-point shooting in his last game against the Jazz, his three-point shooting percentage would have been 39.4 percent (a career-high).
On the hot zone map, Booker's 47.8 percent shooting percentage is lower than the league average, but more detailed data shows that Booker is also very efficient near the basket, averaging 2.5 shots per game near the basket and shooting 58.7 percent, many of which come from switching offense.
What makes Booker's mid-range so deadly? There are three key points: not much dribbling, good pace, and high shot points.
In the game against the Spurs, these have very typical examples to refer to.
First: In a dribble, Booker attacks immediately after receiving the ball.
Another source of Booker's mid-range shooting type is shots after blocking. For the most part, this is achieved through blocking and dismantling and the Suns' huge blocking attraction. In a way, his blocking moves look a bit like Paul's trend.
The last one we all know is Booker's one-on-one singles. He had a variety of tricks, and this time he showed a difficult step-back jumper.
Perhaps the most impressive thing About Booker this season is his progress in breakthroughs. Cunning is a trait of some players who are good at breaking through, and Booker is the most cunning, whether it is his use of the body or his use of the dribbling path to create a breakthrough space for himself.
Booker dribbled through from left to right, and he used his body as a shield to complete the shot.
In an offensive-defensive transition, Booker used the European step to make room for a layup in front of two defenders.
After the steal, In the fast attack, Booker slowed down in time to make Devin Vasell's good defense invisible.
As the season progresses, Booker will get more players of the week and will be selected as an All-Star.
Suns coach Monty Williams said after the game that Booker should be an All-Star starter in the West, saying: "I watched the votes of all-Star backcourt players before and I laughed it off, I think Booker should be an All-Star starter and his performance today proves that. ”
In the last All-Star vote released by the league, Booker did not enter the top three places in the Western Conference backcourt, and his votes were even lower than that of Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who had just returned from injury, but it was clear that Booker's current performance was worthy of the all-Star starter status, and for the coach's praise, Booker was very modest, "I am very grateful for him to say so, but at this stage of my career, I don't care much about these things, I am more concerned about whether Monty can become an All-Star coach." ”
As Booker's career progresses, he may lead the Suns to the Finals again and become the Finals MVP. Bryant's message to him has always been his driving force to move forward. Make yourself a better player, make your team a better team, and in the end you will eventually become a legend that future generations will admire.