LOS ANGELES — Devin Booker can always get his, but this whole point guard role has had him looking to facilitate more than normal this season.
This has led to him averaging a career high 7.7 assists this season.
Nice, but Booker, at his core, is a scorer first.
Kevin Durant helped put his Phoenix Suns teammate in that mode with a pregame talk before Thursday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“KD came to me before the game and was like, I want you aggressive,” Booker said. “Don’t worry about getting me involved. I’ll get myself involved. Having a mate like that out there with you to give you that much confidence and let you rock out was important.”
Taking heed to Durant’s message, Booker responded with a 16-point first quarter on 6-of-10 shooting in leading the Suns to a 17-point lead early in their 127-109 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
“It’s been my approach since I’ve been in the league, I’ll figure it out,” Durant said. “I can fend for myself. You don’t got to force feed me the ball or put me in my spots. I don’t need a point guard to set me up. I can find a way to be aggressive and be an impact on the offensive side.”
Booker’s initial surge was the start of Phoenix’s Big 3 taking it to the Lakers in combining for 84 points.
“As much as everybody can be aggressive without having to focus on trying to get me the ball or our best scorers the ball,” Durant continued. “If we’re aggressive and make the right play, the ball is going to find us. That’s usually the approach we all have, but sometimes, it’s good to reiterate that to your teammates so they can go out there and have a free mind.”
Bradley Beal scored a season-high 37, Booker went for 31 and Durant added 18. The Suns led by as many as 32 points, their second-largest advantage of the season.
“They’re not as methodical, they play with a lot more speed when you talk about KD and Book and Beal,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham in comparing the Suns’ Big 3 to the Clippers having Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
“The one thing you have to do is give yourself every chance to be able to stop them. When you’re turning the ball over (18 turnovers led to 28 Phoenix points), it’s really difficult to stop anyone when you’re giving away possessions like that.”
Durant only took 12 shots, one shy of the season-low 11 in the Christmas loss to Dallas.
“I know people only look at me as just a scorer, and if I don’t get up shots, then I’m not effective,” Durant said after the loss to Dallas.
He noted Grayson Allen and Chimezie Metu having big nights as they went for 32 and 23 points, respectively, and he can do more than score, but the low shot attempts further fueled the perception of him being frustrated.
“But it’s the more subtle stuff in the game that I think, I believe I helped my teammates with. But I know my scoring is so loud that people only look at me as that type of player. But I feel like I still was able to help the offense out without shooting the ball and still be able to help the defense as well.”
The “subtle” stuff Durant did against the Lakers loudly impact Thursday’s outcome.
He delivered five assists, three steals, blocked a shot, didn’t turn the ball over — and took on the challenge of guarding LeBron James.
“I think out of one of the timeouts, I said ‘K, who you want to guard right here?’” Beal said. “He said, ‘Whoever has the ball. I want to guard whoever has the ball. He’s taking that matchup personally. He takes all matchups seriously and he wants to challenge himself on the defensive end. That challenges us all to do the same. If Kevin is getting in the stance and guarding, we damn sure better do the same.”
James ended a disappointing night for the Lakers with 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting, nine assists to four turnovers and five rebounds.
Durant had a say in James’ uncharacteristic stat line.
“He did a great job from the opening tip just battling LeBron James,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said.
The Lakers were 3-0 against Suns, but this was the first time they faced their Big 3 of Booker, Durant and Beal.
They had no answers for them as Beal cooked for a season-high 37 points, hitting 8-of-10 from 3.
“He got to whatever he wanted,” Durant said about Beal. “He was a screener. Got to play in the pocket. Was able to knock down catch-and-shoots, off the dribble, in the midrange, off the dribble from 3. Catch-and-shoot 3. He had his whole bag open. When he’s unpredictable in his attack, it’s just going to make the game easier for everybody else.”
Beal outscored Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and James by himself as the Lakers top three scorers ended the night with 36 total points.
“Everybody talking about when we lose we need a point guard and all that, but we know the talent we have,” Suns big Jusuf Nurkic said. “We just have to figure it out. I told you all before, Bradley Beal make a difference in a lot of ways. Offense and defense. He’s a big guard who can play both, but when he plays this way, so aggressive, it changes the whole dynamic of our team.”
Beal scored 26 points in the second half on 10-of-13 shooting. He was even hotter from 3 — 5-of-6.
“I’ve seen it plenty of times before,” Booker said. “None of it surprises me, but finding the spacing around him. Letting him get easier looks and letting him get in his bag without people in help defense. We figured some things out spacing that we’ve been working on the past couple of days.”
Vogel has been urging his players to take more 3s as they are 26th in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game at 31.6.
“We’ve had too many games where teams shot 40 and 50 (percent) 3s and we shot in the mid 20s and it’s tough to keep up in the modern NBA,” Vogel said. “We have the shooters to do it.”
Beal hadn’t taken more than six in a game before hoisting 10 for the first time in the 14 games with his new team Sunday. He’s the Wizards all-time leader in 3-pointers made with 1,514, but Beal averaged just 5.9 launches from deep in his 11 seasons in Washington.
“I’m becoming good with it,” Beal said. ”It’s been something our staff has been preaching all year. It’s been something I’ve been trying to get myself to do the last probably 5 years of my career.”
For all those takes and makes from 3 Thursday night, his most memorable play was going into his bag against Reaves that left him stumbling as Beal rose up for a jumper and drew the foul on him.
“He had Austin dancing,” Durant said. “He had Austin leaning back a little bit, off balance. That’s always exciting. Brad is one of the best players in the world. To get an opportunity to see it from that close up and see a guy work every day and see who he truly is as a player and he come out there and get moments like that, it’s always fun.”
Beal is in his eighth game back from an ankle injury that sidelined him five games.
“I enjoy seeing my teammates cook like that,” continued Durant. “We’re going to need more of that from him cause that ignites the bench. That ignites the crowd even if we’re on the road. You seen people excited about that move. It’s only good for us when he aggressive like that.”
Beal celebrated the shot with his hands extended and body shaking before Bol Bol and Allen ran over to help him up off the floor.
“I knew it a little bit, I wasn’t his teammate, but he has a lot of personality,” Booker said. “People don’t know that about him. I’d say it’s not that known. He’s always good vibes.”