Devin Booker outscored his own team’s starters
In Game 3, Devin Booker really struggled and finished the game with just 10 points on 3-14 shooting. While they still lost in Game 4, Devin Booker had one of the greatest bounce-back games from a player in NBA Finals history as he scored 42 points on 17-28 shooting. His 42 points were the most points in Finals history immediately following a game in which he had 10 points or fewer.
Booker showed out in Game 4, but the rest of his team really struggled. When you take Booker’s production away, the rest of this Phoenix team shot 46%, which is not bad, but the rest of their starting unit only shot 38.9% from the floor. Devin Booker outscored the rest of the Suns’ starting unit 42-38, which was very problematic for them offensively.
It is one thing if shots just are not falling, but the Suns lack of aggression from the rest of their starting unit really hurt them. Chris Paul had an off-night, shooting just 5-13 from the floor and was constantly turning the ball over, which is a rare occurrence for him, but Mikal Bridges and DeAndre Ayton really were never able to get anything going their way.
Bridges only took 4 shots in the game in 26 minutes on the floor and Ayton did not seem to be the aggressive big man we saw earlier in this series. DeAndre Ayton settled for a lot of contested hook-shots and jumpers, which allowed the Bucks to capitalize in transition off of misses.
If the Suns are to take Game 5 of this series and avoid losing three straight games, something they have done just once this entire year, then someone else will have to step up and help Devin Booker out offensively. Game 4 was the best Booker is going to play this series and he is not going to go out and have a better performance than he did, which is why guys like Ayton, Bridges and Paul will have to be able to score on their home court.
Devin Booker cannot be the only guy to score for the Suns in this series and that proved to be true in Game 4 in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. If Chris Paul is not knocking down shots, then someone else needs to step up for the Suns, otherwise they will go down 3-2 heading back to Milwaukee for Game 6.
