Best Game Ever: For Devin Booker, the answer was obvious

Dan Woike asked NBA players to tell us about the best game in their basketball career. This week: Devin Booker.

March 24, 2017: Boston 130, Phoenix 120

70 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals

Phoenix guard Devin Booker was really trying. Shootaround had just ended in Phoenix and the 22-year-old Suns star was trying to figure out if the obvious game was his best game ever. After about a minute, he quit trying and just laughed. How could it be anything else?

“I was trying to think of something more interesting, but it’s my 70-point game in Boston. It was on a back-to-back from New York. We got in late, and we were actually playing a card game on the plane. And it continued all the way to the room so we ended up staying up really late — maybe 6 a.m. I had a sore ankle that game and I wasn’t sure if I was even going to play or not. I was getting ready and warming up. Every time I’d play against Boston, especially that Boston team, I knew they had really good defenders — Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Jaylen Brown, Jae Crowder. They were No. 1 in the East so I was locked in during warmups. … Before that game, I had never had a 40-point game. I had 39 six times.Once I passed 40, I was aware of that. Once I got to 55, Tyson [Chandler] said something on the bench. ‘You’re at double-nickel, keep going.’ … From there on out, I was just going in, getting the most buckets I can. And when I was at 69 points, shooting my last free throw to get to 70, I knew what I had. … The jersey is in the Hall of Fame and I have the shoes at home in my office framed. It was a pretty memorable night.”

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dan.woike@latimes.com

Twitter: @DanWoikeSports