Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns has continued his phenomenal playoff run by matching teammate Kevin Durant’s 36 points in the team’s series-evening win against the Denver Nuggets in Game 4. Booker has now scored 331 points during this postseason, making him the player with the most points through nine playoff games since Michael Jordan in 1990. His 70% true shooting percentage is also the best ever by a player who has scored at least 300 points over a span of nine playoff games.
Booker’s efficiency has been astounding in the past two games, as he has scored 83 points while shooting 79.1% from the floor. He has made 20 of 26 jump shots in the pair of victories, hitting at a clip that ranks as the best over two playoff games in the decade that Second Spectrum has done player tracking among a group of more than 900 players who attempted at least 25 jumpers. Booker has already produced six 35-plus-point performances in these playoffs, the most ever by a Phoenix player during a postseason.
Suns’ coach Monty Williams praised Booker’s ability to hit momentum-shifting shots and send a message to his team that he can carry them. The Suns’ front office anticipated this sort of explosive offense when the team made the midseason trade to pair Durant with Booker. Injuries limited Durant to only eight regular-season games after the trade, but the belief in the superstar pair’s potential keeps building. Booker says that he doesn’t believe that there’s a ceiling for their potential, and that the team is still experimenting with different lineups through this series.
