Where does your mind go when you hear that a player is averaging 26 points on 47.6% shooting? That's a pretty solid average, right? Derrick Rose once won an MVP award averaging fewer points (25) on worse efficiency (44.5% from the field). Getting there in the regular season at least merits an All-NBA nod. Getting there in the playoffs is even more incredible. "Incredible" seems like an appropriate descriptor of Devin Booker right now.
It probably isn't enough, truthfully. After all, Devin Booker isn't averaging 26 points on 47.6% shooting in the 2023 playoffs. Those are his worst individual games this postseason. They didn't even come in the same game. Booker opened the playoffs with 26 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, but made 10 of his 19 looks in that game. He's dipped below 30 points just once since then. He got to exactly 30 points in Game 4 of the Clippers series, but made only 10 of his 21 shots in the process. It was one of only two games this postseason in which he missed more shots than he made.
It's been that kind of postseason for Booker, who has now willed the Suns back into a series they easily could have been swept out of. After falling behind the Denver Nuggets 2-0 in the second round, Booker has scored 83 points on just over 79% shooting across the past two games to even the series. He has done so against a defense that has aggressively ignored his teammates so that it could throw double-teams at him. He's punished them for that, too, dishing out 12 assists in Sunday's Game 4 victory. In the process, he became the first player in NBA history to score at least 35 points on at least 75% shooting in back-to-back postseason games.
"NBA history" is a phrase you're going to hear plenty of as Booker's scorching streak continues. It may only be the second round, but Booker is making history every time he steps on the floor. At this rate, he is going to make a genuine argument for the title of "best offensive postseason in NBA history." Here's where he stacks up right now:
- Booker is averaging 36.8 points per game in the playoffs. Among all players who have played in at least eight games in a single postseason (guaranteeing at least two rounds of participation), he ranks fourth in NBA history in points per game. The three players ahead of him all came six decades ago: 1961 Elgin Baylor (38.1 points per game), 1962 Elgin Baylor (38.2 points per game) and 1965 Jerry West (40.6 points per game). The two players immediately trailing him? Two seasons of Michael Jordan, which topped out at 36.7 points per game, and 2009 LeBron James, at 35.3 points per game.
- Booker is now shooting 61.7% from the floor this postseason. That would set a new NBA postseason record for 30-point scorers, topping Shaquille O'Neal's 61.2% during the 1998 playoffs. To a find a scorer who shot better from the field in at least eight playoff games, we need to lower the bar all the way to James Worthy in 1985, who shot 62.2% from the field in the postseason, but averaged just 21.5 points per game.
- Booker is shooting just under 51% on 3-pointers. Only eight 20-point scorers in NBA history have made half of their 3-pointers across an entire postseason while taking at least one per game. Booker is the first 30-point scorer ever to accomplish this feat.
- Booker has attempted only six free throws per game during this outrageous stretch. Only Stephen Curry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have ever averaged 30 points per game across an entire postseason on fewer foul shots.
There is no gimmick here. There is no rule that Booker is exploiting or glaring defensive vulnerability creating points for him that might be fixed in future matchups. What we are witnessing here is simply unparalleled shotmaking. Booker is making almost every shot he takes right now.
And if the Suns are going to survive this postseason? They are going to need him to continue doing so. Kevin Durant has more than done his share, and there are just as many numbers displaying their heroics as a duo as there for Booker's individual exploits. But after him? The Suns are paying Chris Paul over $30 million to sit out right now due to an injury. Even when he was healthy, he was averaging career playoff lows in almost every offensive category. DeAndre Ayton scored four points in Game 3 and was benched down the stretch for Jock Landale. The Suns needed four fourth-quarter 3-pointers from Landry Shamet just to survive Game 4. Phoenix's third-leading scorer in Game 3 had seven points.
The Suns have championship aspirations. They have a championship duo in Booker and Durant. But the rest of their roster doesn't exactly look like championship material right now. Not all championship rosters are flawless, and in a year as filled with parity as this one, there's room for a thin contender if the best players on the team are good enough. Right now, Booker has gone well beyond "good enough." If he keeps this up and carries the Suns to 10 more wins, it's going to be hard to argue with the idea that he had the great offensive postseason in NBA history.
