The Phoenix Suns shooting guard has broken his silence, with his first thoughts since a disappointing exit from the NBA play-offs against the Denver Nuggets
After defeat to the Denver Nuggets, the future of the Phoenix Suns is the subject of much defeat and key man Devin Booker posted a cryptic tweet following the sacking of coach Monty Williams. After a third defeat in the last three years at the latter stages of the play-offs, the 51-year-old was relieved of his duties by the Western Conference side after four years in charge.
Booker appears to be unphased by the departure, as he broke his silence by writing: “36 unbothered.” For context, Booker wears the number one on his jersey, while teammate Kevin Durant wears the number 35 and the two numbers added together equal 36.
This tweet was the first comment of any kind made by the 26-year-old following the Suns’ elimination from the play-offs. He refused to speak to reporters after the 125-100 Game Six defeat last week, the first time the NBA star has done so.
This was perhaps due to the frustration of suffering a second consecutive defeat in the play-off semi-finals, with this year’s 4-2 exit following a 4-3 reverse to the Dallas Mavericks last year. Booker himself had an impressive post season, scoring at 36.8 points per game with an excellent 61.7 field goal percentage and a true shooting percentage of 71.1.
Devin Booker broke his silence following the sacking of coach Monty Williams (Image: Getty)
Furthermore, since the play-offs expanded to four rounds in the 1983/84 season, only Michael Jordan and Bernard King have recorded more 35-point games than Booker in the first two rounds of a postseason, according to ESPN Stats and Info. Both Booker and Durant combined to produce herculean-like performances to win two games in the Western Conference semi-final series against the Nuggets.
But with a thin roster along with injuries to Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, the Suns were outclassed and overpowered by the top seeds. There is plenty of uncertainty regarding the Suns next season, starting with their coach following the sacking of Williams.
According to ESPN, Williams had three years and more than $20 million left on his contract, and is said to be a favourite to land another job in the league. After the Suns’ season came to an end, he took responsibility for the crushing loss.
Phoenix suffered a blowout loss in game six of the NBA Playoffs semifinals (Image: Getty)
“I take that personally, not having our team ready to play in the biggest game of the year,” Williams said. “That’s something that I pride myself on and it just didn’t happen. … That’s something I have to take a deep look at, everything I’m doing.”
Durant, who was traded to the Suns mid-season, described the performance in the decisive game as “embarrassing” and urged the team to do improve next season. “We just got to be better next year,” Durant said. “It’s hard right now to see what the future will hold for our team, but we got a good foundation, good infrastructure.
“We can build on and move on from this and learn from it and get better from it. I’m sure as the summer and offseason starts, we’ll figure that out a little bit more.”
Source: express.co.uk
