Devin Booker isn’t the only reason Oklahoma City dominated the Phoenix Suns, 99-83, Friday night at Paycom Center.
He’s the most alarming one.
Booker went scoreless in the first half as the Suns trailed, 48-36 at the break. He finished with 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting as he went 8-of-8 from the line.
According to Stathead, Booker last went scoreless in a half on Dec. 23, 2019, when he failed to score in the first half in a 113-111 home loss to the Denver Nuggets.
With Kevin Durant back in Phoenix rehabbing a left calf strain and Bradley Beal out for the second straight game, also with a left calf strain, the Suns needed Booker to have a big night against the Thunder.
He fell miserably short of that. Booker was a minus-29, the worst of anyone who played Friday night.
Grayson Allen also didn’t play a second straight game with a sore right hamstring, but the Thunder (11-2) are also short bodies.
Rising star big Chet Holmgren (right iliac wing fracture), Alex Caruso (right hip soreness), Jaylin Williams (right hamstring strain) and Isaiah Hartenstein (left hand fracture) didn’t play, but the Thunder still rolled with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way with 28 points in 33 minutes.
The Suns trailed by as many as 25 points in Friday’s NBA Cup West Group B game.
The Suns (9-4) are 1-3 without Durant, but they’ll look to finish their four-game road trip .500 as they face the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that swept them in the first round of last season’s playoffs, Sunday at Target Center.
Here is the biggest takeaway from a second straight lopsided defeat after Sacramento drummed Phoenix, 127-104, Wednesday.
Booker distracted, didn’t bring it
Booker has always had constant dialogue with the referees. This is nothing new, but he’d still play with force and produce sooner or later.
He did neither of those Friday night.
Booker showed frustration with Lu Dort to the point he shoved him away as both were out of bounds. The play was reviewed for a possible flagrant, but it was later ruled a common foul.
Booker had bigger problems than that.
He continues to struggle with the double team in terms of making a quick decision. He’s used to the double, has handled it better, but committed a game-high four turnovers.
The Suns had 17 for the game that led to 20 OKC points. The Thunder play with an energy and physicality Phoenix failed to match, but it’s on Booker to bring it to give the Suns a fighting chance on offense.
The Suns didn’t make shots to force OKC to stop doubling Booker. They shot 29.3% from the field, going 9-of-37 from 3. As a collective, Phoenix could’ve gotten to its second and third actions better, but Booker also isn’t showing that burst to get by a defender or the separation to raise up for the jumper.
He didn’t respond to the play of Gilgeous-Alexander the way he normally does against a star player. After the game, Booker said the days of him trying to score over double and triple teams are over, but regardless of how much the Thunder doubled him and how poorly Phoenix shot the ball Friday, he has to be more aggressive and set the tone.
Booker didn’t do that.
Don’t know if it’s lingering effects from the illness. Booker would just say he’s fine if asked about it or even being hurt or injured, but he just scored 31 on Tuesday against the Jazz. He’s not on the injury report for that or any other injury.
Quicker, more athletic Thunder
The Suns were unable to take advantage of the clear size advantage they have with 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic.
This was the game Nurkic should’ve been fouled out OKC’s entire front line starting with the 6-6 Jalen Williams. The Thunder counted their lack of size with doubling him and then rotating to attach themselves to shooters.
Again, Phoenix needed to shoot the ball better to make the defense pay. Rookie Ryan Dunn going 1-of-9 from 3 and Tyus Jones went 2-of-8 was just as much of a problem as Booker or Nurkic.
However, Nurkic’s job Friday night should’ve been to attack the offensive boards instead of trying to initiate offense. The Suns had 11 offensive boards and attempted a season-high 40 free throws.
What’s crazy is they could’ve attempted even more if Nurkic had imposed his physicality. He missed all seven of his field goal attempts inside in scoring just four points.
When asked why the Suns didn’t take fuller advantage of their size advantage, Booker said, ‘Good question,’ but declined to give an answer.
Nurkic should’ve been the answer.
Surprised Mason Plumlee didn’t play as he’s good at crashing the boards.
Rookie Oso Ighodaro gobbled up his minutes, but ended the game with five fouls.
On the other end, the Thunder outworked and outhustled the Suns in getting extra possessions. They attempted 16 more shots than Phoenix on the strength of 13 offensive rebounds.
The Thunder are a bad matchup for Phoenix even without three key guys. If both teams are healthy, advantage OKC because the Thunder can play physical with small ball and be the more physical team.
Okogie providing spark
Mike Budenholzer rewarded Josh Okogie for his play in Wednesday’s loss at Sacramento with the start Friday.
He also made that choice to allow Royce O’Neale to return to his role coming off the bench.
Okogie scored 15, but only shot 4-of-12 from the field while O’neale managed 11 on 4-of-10.
Considering how OKC started the game, the Suns might have been better off just going small with them right out the box and have O’Neale at the five.
Nurkic is not 100 percent with the ankle injury. So this could’ve been an opportunity to rest him and have him healthier to face Rudy Gobert on Sunday.
The Suns instead found themselves in a track meet that OKC won with Williams streaking down the court for uncontested dunks.
Booker just doesn’t look like himself at all.
That’s a problem, especially if Beal is out an extended period of time and Durant doesn’t return until Nov. 26 against the Lakers at the earliest.
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