The Phoenix Suns(24-5) got back their leading scorer Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets(16-16) as Devin Booker made his return after missing seven games with a hamstring injury.
In under 27 minutes of action, Booker scored 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting (4-of-8 3FG) to go along with six rebounds and five assists.
Phoenix led wire-to-wire and routed the Hornets 137-106 at Footprint Center as JaVale McGee led the Suns in scoring for a second-straight game, tallying 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds in 16 minutes of action tonight.
The Suns have now won three straight and five out of their last six.
“I feel good, man, playing basketball again,” Booker said postgame. “It’s not easy to sitting over on that sideline for a substantial amount of time, but we have a really good team, and I learned some things and seen some things from the sideline that I tried to implement today, and I’m going to use moving forward.”
Suns head coach Monty Williams added on Booker: “I just thought he had pop. I didn’t think I wasn’t going to see that, but I just saw Book (Devin Booker). He was gliding up and down the floor, which is what he does. And he and Chris (Paul), both those guys in pick-and-roll tonight, were willing passers, getting off the ball, and we were getting second side actions off of those two in pick- n-roll. He didn’t look winded. He thought I was taking him out in the first quarter around the five, and I was like, no, keep playing. You can tell, when you play, you know when a guy is tired slash winded slash trying to find his second wind. There is a look we all have, and he didn’t have it, and so I just wanted him to keep playing.”
Without Booker, the Suns were 5-2 and kept up their winning ways. According to Booker, one thing he noticed about the team while he was away is how much talent they have in Phoenix.
“We have a lot of talented players,” he said. “That know how to play the game and play for each other. It’s kind of rare to find teams that play the right basketball every single night, and I’ve been on the other end of that and know that. I don’t take it for granted the situation that we’re in.”
Phoenix does have a lot of talent, which was on full display against the Hornets. The Suns get back at it Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
