Suns Win Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals
- Matt Elvy
- Jun 21, 2021
- 3 min read
The Suns take game 1, defeating the Clippers 120 - 114.
Devin Booker has the best game of his career, to secure the game 1 win of the Western Conference Finals.
Book chose the perfect game, with Chris Paul out after testing positive for Covid, to put up his 1st career triple-double. He had 40 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and a very impressive 2 turnovers, which is an area that Book has traditionally struggled in.
Book joins Charles Barkley, Penny Hardaway, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash as the only Suns players in history to have a triple-double in the Playoffs. Only Book and Barkley have had 40+ point triple-doubles. He's also only the 4th player in NBA history to have a triple-double in the Conference Finals. His 13 rebounds and 11 assists are also Playoff career highs for him.
The stats are impressive, but it's the way that he went about them, which really showed off his superstardom. He shot 15 of 29 overall and took over in the 3rd quarter, right after a 16-2 run by the Clippers. He scored 18 on 11 shots in the period, including a run scoring 16 straight points for the Suns. The Clippers could not stop Book getting to his spot on the court - the mid-range jump shot and even when he did have someone guarding him, it had no impact on him. He also added 3 assists in the quarter.
In the 4th quarter he continued his superb play. He continued to score, as he had 11 in the quarter, but grabbed 6 rebounds, ensuring that the Clippers had less opportunities at 2nd chance points. He dished 5 of his assists here as well, his 10th to give him hi s triple-double was an alley-oop pass to Mikal Bridges.
Speaking of Bridges, his most impactful quarter was the 4th. He was 3 for 3 from the field for 7 points and added had a steal and a block. He finished the game with 14 points.
The defence was great throughout the game and as we've now become accustomed to, it was anchored by Deandre Ayton (he doesn't like being called a big man, so we'll try to avoid that phrase to describe him going forwards). DA had 20 points and 9 rebounds. He scored our 1st 2 buckets of the game, as the Suns struggled with their shots in the 1st couple of minutes and used his size to grab 2 of his 3 offensive boards in the quarter. He had a big 2nd quarter scoring 10 points and went in to half time leading the team in scoring with 14. Like Book in the 2nd half, he had a timely dunks all night that got the crowd on their feet.
Cam Payne started in place of the absent Chris Paul. He started rather erratic going 1 of 5 to start, but went 4 of 5 the rest of the way for 11 points. He also added 9 assists with only 1 turnover.
Paul George for the Clippers had himself a good scoring night, hitting some ridiculous 3's with Suns defenders draped all over him. He led all scorers at halftime with 17, shooting 3 of 5 from downtown.
The 3rd quarter turned in to a duel between George and Book, but he went stale in the 4th quarter, only managing 1 point (which was a technical free throw), shooting 0 for 5 in the period.
Game Flow from Viziball
With Chris Paul out, we needed this game to be a W, so we could be in a good position for the next few games. Chris Paul posted a Tic-Toc of him and his children just prior to the game, which suggests we will not be available for game 2, as his family still live in Los Angeles. This win will give the Suns confidence (not that they really EVER lack that) going in to game 2, which is Tuesday night (early hours Wednesday morning) at 2:00am.
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