In the third straight Christmas day matchup for the Phoenix Suns, Devin Booker wasn’t in a very festive mood this year. Going up against the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks, Booker was involved in a few altercations during the game. In one instance, he decided to blatantly call out his own teammate for lack of effort.
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During the beginning of the third quarter of the Mavericks-Suns battle, Chimezie Metu tried handing the ball off to Devin Booker. Instead, Luka Doncic displayed some incredible reflexes and intercepted the pass. Ultimately, the Mavericks guard found himself alone in the open and finished with an easy layup.
D-Book wasn’t a huge fan of Metu at that particular moment. The combo guard wasn’t upset at the fact that his teammate turned the ball over. But, Booker was frustrated because Metu didn’t run back on defense even after committing the turnover.
A riled-up Booker complained,
“Why aren’t you running back? You turn the ball over and don’t run back?”
Metu’s lack of effort might not be the only reason behind Booker being in distress as the Phoenix Suns aren’t in the most ideal situations. Currently, the Suns are on a three-game losing streak and 11th spot in the Western Conference with a 14-15 record.
After losing in the In-season quarter-final against Lakers, the Arizona-based team have only managed to win 2 games from their last 8. What was supposed to be a championship-winning roster with Durant, Booker and Beal on the roster, the team is struggling even to be in the top half of the table.
Bradley Beal suffered an ankle injury on the same day he returned after a long time. The former Wizards guard only appeared in 5 games after getting traded this summer. In his absence, Durant and Booker have been receiving little to no support from their bench as the Suns’ bench ranks 26th in scoring. The Suns rely so much on Booker and Durant that if they are not on the roster, the team operates at a minus-5.0 and a minus-4.5 per 100 possessions rate, respectively.
With a lack of support from his team, Kevin Durant is getting frustrated now. Notably, the frustrations with their current form and roster situation were clearly visible from Booker and other players during the game against the Mavs.
Devin Booker seems to get into a lot of scuffles with the Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns have an interesting rivalry that began during the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals. The very next season, Devin Booker got into a spat with Luka Doncic.
During the 5th March 2023 Suns-Mavs clash, Luka missed a wide-open, potentially game-tying layup. Soon after, Booker and Doncic got into a verbal argument that led to a physical altercation as well.
This Christmas Day matchup has also witnessed Booker getting into a scuffle with a player for the Dallas Mavericks. At one point in the third quarter, right under the basket, Grant Williams and Devin Booker got extremely physical with each other, pulling each other’s jerseys. The officials didn’t waste any time as they slapped both players with technical fouls.
The rivalry brewing between Devin Booker and Luka Doncic was turning out to be an interesting one. However, the two have been trying to bury the hatchet according to their latest actions. Before the matchup, Doncic spoke about loving Booker’s game.
“I really love his game, the way he plays. A lot of times, I watch Phoenix, actually, because of him. He’s a really, really great player,” Doncic admitted.
During the game, Booker even congratulated the Slovenian for his child.
Luka and Booker are two of the most exciting, young guards in the league. Considering that both of them play for Western Conference franchises, we hope to see many more action-packed duels between the two.
