Devin Booker 70 Points vs Celtics

I think the Suns are trying to make their team more desiderable for free agents, they hope other player will want to play with Booker due to the fact he's going to be a superstar etc...but yeah, i agree with other guys here, while 70 points are obviously great (especially for a 20 years old kid), making them this way is kinda meh...give more Bucks/Giannis and Sixers/Saric basketball, the Suns are a joke, 7 straight years in the lottery and they're going to get a top 3 pick again this year.

 

Today's fans don't care about context.

 

Booker is young so maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but he's also a 6'6 guard who averages just a shade over 3 rebounds a game and 3 assists a game and less than one steal a game, while playing 35 minutes a game. He probably will become an elite scorer -- but his statistical profile doesn't match what I expect from a potential superstar.

 

They lost the game. I guarantee the Rockets would never lose a game where Harden scored 70, pretty much no matter who you put around him. Because Harden's scoring is efficient and he brings a lot more to the table on offense than just making a lot of shots.

 

He was impressive up until like 50 points, the rest was just ridiculous and eerily similar the the Kobe farewell game. The stat padding nowadays is getting pathetic..

 

The NBA record for players scoring 70+ points is 6-5 now. This seems like a feat you shouldn't hope for.

 

Lol the hating here is ridiculous. If Harden did it, none of the posts here would be said.

 

Same profile as other 6'6 and above SGs -- Reggie Miller and Klay Thompson. Since he seems to have some driving skills, maybe he'll bring up the apg as well....which Reggie and Klay never did/will. Assist-wise, Kawhi is in the same grouping.

 

Those pure scorer types will never be considered superstars...they're all-stars at best. Same reason why Durant will never be better than LeBron, and why Klay will never be better than Harden. There are so many ways to impact the game other than scoring; just putting the ball into the basket won't cut it. Booker is even worse in that he's a really bad defender.

 

dude is 20 and still growing. Sure he stat padded tonight but the Suns have nothing else to look forward to so why not

 

fwiw: Here's the Top 20 scorers for Age 20 or below since 1980. I mainly want to post this to make sure everyone checked out who had the highest eFG% and TS%

Rk	Player	Season	Age	PTS	FG%	2P%	3P%	eFG%	FT%	TS%
1	LeBron James	2004-05	20	27.2	.472	.499	.351	.504	.750	.554
2	Kevin Durant	2008-09	20	25.3	.476	.486	.422	.510	.863	.577
3	Devin Booker	2016-17	20	21.6	.424	.447	.364	.475	.835	.530
4	Carmelo Anthony	2003-04	19	21.0	.426	.444	.322	.449	.777	.509
5	LeBron James	2003-04	19	20.9	.417	.438	.290	.438	.754	.488
6	Carmelo Anthony	2004-05	20	20.8	.431	.455	.266	.448	.796	.526
7	Andrew Wiggins	2015-16	20	20.7	.459	.486	.300	.481	.761	.543
8	Kevin Durant	2007-08	19	20.3	.430	.455	.288	.451	.873	.519
9	Elton Brand	1999-00	20	20.1	.482	.483	.000	.482	.685	.528
10	Tyreke Evans	2009-10	20	20.1	.458	.485	.255	.473	.748	.529
11	Kobe Bryant	1998-99	20	19.9	.465	.494	.267	.482	.839	.549
12	Shareef Abdur-Rahim	1996-97	20	18.7	.453	.457	.259	.456	.746	.518
13	Stephon Marbury	1997-98	20	17.7	.415	.448	.313	.453	.731	.505
14	Antoine Walker	1996-97	20	17.5	.425	.438	.327	.445	.631	.474
15	Bradley Beal	2013-14	20	17.1	.419	.426	.402	.479	.788	.507
16	Isiah Thomas	1981-82	20	17.0	.424	.432	.288	.432	.704	.487
17	Andrew Wiggins	2014-15	19	16.9	.437	.453	.310	.454	.760	.517
18	Derrick Rose	2008-09	20	16.8	.475	.491	.222	.482	.788	.516
19	Lamar Odom	1999-00	20	16.6	.438	.453	.360	.467	.719	.521
20	Eric Gordon	2008-09	20	16.1	.456	.496	.389	.529	.854	.593

 

Pretty sure you don't win MVP like Durant did by just being a pure scorer

 

Yea, he's more Ray Allen than Reggie or Klay because he can dribble and pass, which Reggie and Klay can not do

 

Mades me wonder if the Thunders will stat pad Westbrook so he can get the MVP. They are already stat padding now by letting him get all the rebounds.

Methinks THunders will make strong stat pad push to get WB his MVP

 

Lol i was actually thinking if Westbrook asked for this help in padding his stats to win the MVP to stay in OKC...wouldn't be surprised if that's what really happened, even though i'm probably just reaching

 

Durant is not just a pure scorer. He averaged 7.4 RPG and 5.5 APG in his MVP season. The point was he's still somewhat one-dimensional compared to LeBron, and Booker is even more one-dimensional than Durant or even Klay.

 

Are we classing this in the Corey Brewer scored 50 in a game category?

 

That was a very efficient 70.

 

I believe Kobe had 2 assists in that 81 point game. Responsible for 85 total points that game.

Booker had 70 and 6 assists so 82 points total.

Harden's game vs the Knicks still is on a different stratosphere than both. Unlike Kobe and Devin, Harden did it with assists and points (and the points weren't gimmicky i.e. forced). Thomas' comments are funny though. We'll be in the playoffs getting trampled by the Cavs and they'll be in the lottery.