By Jordan Long
The Phoenix Suns dropped game 2 against the New Orleans Pelicans by the final score of 125-114, evening the series at 1 game each. Game 3 is in New Orleans on Friday. The series may have shifted in favor of the New Orleans since Suns’ shooting guard Devon Booker could be out with a hamstring injury.
Booker has played well in this series so far averaging 28 points. Prior to his injury in the 3rd quarter, Booker scored 31 points. He left with 4:45 remaining in the 3rd quarter after he hurt himself trying to defend a dunk by Pelicans Jaxson Hayes. The Suns at the time trailed 77-74. Phoenix was outscored from that point forward 48 to 40.
Booker will be evaluated to see how bad the injury to his hamstring is. According to ESPN.com, Chris Paul said, “It is what it is, it’s part of the game. He was killing, he was having a big-time game.”.
Phoenix was forced to play 14 games this season without Booker in the lineup. The Suns had a record of 8-6 in those games.
The Suns know it is “next man up.” The player who should take Booker’s place in the starting lineup is Landry Shamet who is the backup to Booker. In the regular season, Shamet averaged 8.3 points per game in his 20.8 minutes of playing time. He also started 14 games for the Suns.
In this series so far, Shamet hasn’t been used much. He didn’t play game 1 at all. In last night’s game, Shamet played 12 minutes scoring 5 points. He might be the guy who can be inserted in the lineup to take Booker’s place.
The Suns know this could be a massive blow if Booker can’t go the rest of the series. He is one of the game’s best shooters and takes the pressure off Chris Paul. Paul sets up the offense and Booker is one of the main players Paul looks for.
The Suns know to win this series they need to find a way to earn a victory in one of the next two games. The Suns don’t want to go back home down 3-1. Teams down 3-1 have come back to win a series just 13 times. The last team to do it was the Denver Nuggets in the playoff bubble in 2020. They did it twice in that playoff run, knocking off the Utah Jazz in the first round and the L.A. Clippers in the second round. The Pelicans were 19-22 at home this year. New Orleans is playing with house money. If the Suns fail to win this series, the turning point could be Booker’s injury.
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