In the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Suns , which had the Big Three, lost 95-120 to the Timberwolves in their first away game. In this game, Durant tried his best and scored 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Bill also had a good shooting percentage, scoring 15 points and 6 assists on 6-of-10 shooting. But another giant Booker's performance in this game was a disaster. On both ends of the offense and defense, Booker has become a player holding back the Suns. And looking at the offensive and defensive matchups in this series, Booker's superstar status may be greatly affected.
In this game, Booker made 5 of 16 shots, 2 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 18 points and 5 assists. This kind of performance is obviously not enough for Booker. On the offensive end, Booker was tightly guarded by McDaniels, the defensive first-team player of the year. In this game, McDaniels led the defense against Booker. Since the Suns don't have a pure point guard, McDaniels puts a lot of pressure on Booker in the backcourt. In this campaign, McDaniels has already made highlights on Booker's defense.
His height, wingspan and movement speed completely restricted Booker's performance. In order to keep the ball, Booker had no choice but to stop the ball and pass the ball in order to keep the ball. This was a huge harm to the team's offense. So much so that in the later period, Booker no longer dared to dribble and play in isolation, preferring to catch the ball and shoot. His shooting percentage in this campaign was only 30%, which is enough to illustrate the problem. In the entire next series, Booker will face McDaniels' entanglement.
In addition to the offensive end, Booker is even more of a disaster on defense. Due to the unsatisfactory offensive end, Booker became even more absent-minded in defense, repeatedly allowing his opponents to break through and enter the paint, causing Durant's defensive pressure to be extremely high. There was a scene in the fourth quarter of this game. After the 37-year-old Conley made a disguise, Booker just stayed put and watched his opponent break into the paint. This 220 million superstar player performed so poorly in the first game, which is really disappointing.
