Point Book rolls in first test without Chris Paul against Thunder

Over the next 6-8 weeks without Chris Paul, the top-seeded Phoenix Suns will find out a lot about who they are. One potential bright side, aside from their 6.5-game cushion over the rest of the NBA? Devin Booker gets to prove himself as a legitimate MVP candidate in the Point God’s absence, potentially even going as far as filling his position in the starting lineup.

Call it the Silver Linings Point Book.

On Thursday night, Booker and the Suns passed their first test with that wing-heavy lineup, earning a 20-point road victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Phoenix closed its first post-All-Star break game on a 21-6 run over the last five minutes, and although the stat sheet indicated a balanced scoring effort, Booker was by far the best Sun on the floor.

Finishing his night with a team-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, Point Book also played the role of distributor, recording a season-high 12 assists in addition to 5 rebounds and a career-high 6 steals. While he also committed 4 turnovers and started the game 4-for-10, Booker scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the final frame to help seal the deal, finishing as a game-high +26.

“I thought Devin managed the game well,” coach Monty Williams said. “If you look at his assist numbers, he got off the ball and was finding guys at the right time. And then I think he had a career high in steals. Thought his steal-out defense was phenomenal.”

Sure, a trio of Booker’s 12 assists were slightly generous:

But a whopping 8 of his other 9 assists on the night led to 3-pointers for the Suns. Whether he was the only point guard on the floor or sharing the backcourt with combo guard Aaron Holiday, the brunt of the playmaking fell to Booker, and he rose to meet the challenge.

Between his 25 points and 12 assists, Book accounted for 57 of his team’s 124 points. Not bad for a guy whose assist-to-turnover ratio ranks lower than 10 other Suns players still currently on the roster! Just look at him manipulate the defense and locate his shooters, especially with skip passes to the weak side before the Thunder could rotate:

“He was reading the pick-and-roll coverage well, he was getting off of the ball and passing in the shot pocket,” Williams said. “That’s something that I’ve learned being around Chris is, when you can put that pass in the shot pocket, it allows for the shooters to get their shots off quicker, but it also means you know where the shots are coming from and you understand what the coverages are.

“So his ability to go back and forth, facilitating the offense — and then when Aaron came in, he got off the ball and played in his normal role — speaks a lot to his IQ and his ability to adapt to certain situations.”

Even when he wasn’t setting up Phoenix shooters for wide-open 3s out of pick-and-rolls, he was reading the Thunder’s collapsing defense to find open cutters for midrange pull-ups.

With OKC insistent on showing bodies against Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee’s dives to the rim, the Suns’ offense started cashing in on all their open looks after a slow start.

“I think early we was just trying to figure out our offense without basically the head of our snake for the first time in a long time,” Jae Crowder said. “It just felt like the ball was trying to find the right shots, people trying to find the right looks, play through one another, and I think that’s why you saw the numbers the way they were.”

The balanced scoring and assist numbers beyond Booker spoke to how versatile, intelligent and dangerous this group is. Cam Johnson (21 points and 5 assists on 7-of-12 shooting), Mikal Bridges (21 points and 4 assists on 10-of-17 shooting) and Crowder (17 points and 4 assists on 5-of-9 shooting) all posted at least 17 points and 4 assists on better than 50 percent shooting.

To do that, and to have 32 assists and only 15 turnovers as a team, without the league leader in assists on the court, speaks to the cohesion of this unit…as well as Point Book’s ability to keep the engine running smoothly.

Tonight, Book became the first Sun in franchise history with with 25+ PTS, 12+ ASTS, 6+ STLS and 5+ REBS in a game. (h/t @Stathead) pic.twitter.com/gyqUnmCwLb

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 25, 2022

“I knew it’d be different,” Booker said of the Suns’ first game without Paul. “That’s obvious, so I just wanted to go out there and make sure everybody was involved at the same time.”

Williams had hinted before that game that Booker would be a “huge facilitator” for the Suns in the interim with Paul and backup point guard Cam Payne on the sidelines, but this isn’t some new responsibility for the 25-year-old either.

During the 2018-19 season, he was legitimately Phoenix’s best option at point guard thanks to a complete dearth of quality options. With Isaiah Canaan, De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo manning the 1-spot for most of the year, Booker averaged a career-best 6.8 assists per game. Even with Ricky Rubio entering the fold the following season, Book still flashed impressive playmaking skills, averaging 6.5 dimes a night.

Having one of the all-time great point guards in the same backcourt has reduced the need for Booker to exert such a heavy toll as lead scorer and playmaker, but in this current pinch the Suns find themselves in, all that experience on losing teams is paying off.

“It helped out a lot,” Booker said. ‘I always credit my early years in the league, even my first couple of years playing with Brandon [Knight] and [Eric] Bled[soe]. When they went out, the ball kind of found my hands a lot, and I had to make a lot of plays and see different defenses and just play through mistakes and learn. So I take a lot of pride in it. I haven’t been in that position as of recent, but I definitely had some flashbacks tonight.”

It wasn’t all perfect, of course. Those familiar with Point Book lineups remember a high number of turnovers has often been the downside to those formations. Thursday produced a similar result, as Booker finished with 4 turnovers:

It’s also worth noting that Deandre Ayton only had 6 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including 5 turnovers. It was one of the rare games where DA’s hands felt more like bricks trying to catch the ball, but Paul has assisted on about 45 percent of Ayton’s made field goals this season. Even against a defense designed to take his dives away, the Suns will need to get him more involved.

However, looking back at the tape, Booker committed 2 turnovers in the first few minutes of the game, perhaps as a product of All-Star break rust or opening-game jitters with a role he hadn’t filled in quite awhile. In fact, he only had one turnover in the second half. Once he settled in, he was able to thoroughly pick apart OKC’s collapsing defense.

Crowder said it was a matter of being able to read the game at a high level, something he highlighted to Booker when he first joined Phoenix last year. In Crowder’s mind, it was the next step for Book to become a superstar on a winning team.

“I was on him, to the point where at first he was like rejecting it, but he came around,” Crowder recalled. “He started talking about stuff like, ‘What do you see out of pick-and-rolls? Where do you need guys to be?’ I think that’s when he showed his growth. I just felt like the next step of him taking his team and taking his game to the next level was his playmaking — not only just for himself, but for others. And I think he’s definitely grown in that area.”

Devin Booker is the 1st @Suns player with at least 25 points, 10 assists & 5 steals in a game since Jason Kidd in 2001.

The Suns are now 5-0 without Chris Paul since he joined the team (regular season & playoffs). pic.twitter.com/NGVPlYgRbF

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 25, 2022

Williams said he doesn’t know how long the Point Book starting lineup will last as they gradually welcome guys (i.e. Payne) back into the rotation. It’s probably not sustainable for long stretches of the season given the toll it exerts on Booker, especially now that he’s so engaged on the defensive end too. Even with his past experience in that role, the goal is to provide Book with space to facilitate — hence Cam Johnson being moved into the starting lineup and Holiday providing the scoring punch off the bench.

“I think I have to just simplify things from a play call perspective so he doesn’t get crowded with trying to manage the game the way that Chris does,” Williams said. “I’m sure there’s some things from that time that will help him, but I think he’s further along in our program, and I hope that helps him manage the game in a way that doesn’t take away from what he does.”

Thursday night was only one game against an 18-win team, and the Suns still have 23 more tests to go before the playoffs begin. There will be more difficult challenges ahead without the Point God around to make life easier on everyone else.

But with him and Payne out, Holiday still new and Elfrid Payton being unplayable, the Suns are taking advantage of this opportunity to tinker around with some different lineups they could roll out in a pinch come playoff time. Thanks to the sixth-easiest remaining schedule in the NBA and their lead over every other Western Conference team, they’ve afforded themselves a chance to experiment and help the other guys gain confidence.

Crowder believes the Suns can only get better from that type of experience.

“I think it’s good for us though, just to play without him, play without such a key piece of our team to see where we at really and how we can adapt without him being on the court,” Crowder said. “I think it’s good for us to grow during his absence.”