As far as NBA Playoff games go, this one was pretty good. But it’s one of the stats fo the game that made it even more special, especially for the crew of Inside the NBA.
If you stayed up late on the east coast this week (as of this writing / posting date), you saw Devin Booker lead his Phoenix Suns past the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 5 of that particular western division series.
The final score for the night had the Suns on top, 136-130, giving the Suns the series win, and setting Phoenix up for a second-round series with the Nuggets. (Which, BTW, should be a great series out west…).
But the real fun came for Devin Booker, who had a huge game… exploding for 47 points on the night in the at-home win. After the game, he joined the Inside the NBA crew on TNT for a live post-game interview. That’s when he learned from our man Shaq of his even more impressive night.
Shaq gleefully reported that Booker now holds the record for the most-in-Suns-history of playoff games with 40 or more points scored. Quite the impressive record? Who did he take the crown from? None other than Sir Charles Barkley!
Yup, Barkley has held that Suns record for years, having scored 40-plus in five different playoff games. Booker? Well, he now has six… and his playing days are far from over, of course.
Not surprisingly, O’Neal was downright pumped to be able to report that stat to Booker. We know that Shaq loves trolling Barkley any time he can. The lover certainly flows both ways, on and off the Inside the NBA set.
No surprise then that O’Neal was living his best life as he interviewed Booker, post-game. It was Inside’s main host Ernie Johnson that broke the news, saying flatly, “Devin Booker passes Charles Barkley for the most 40-plus games in Suns playoff history.” That must have come as a surprise to Charles, who let out a loud “What!?” when he heard the news.
And in a fine example of comedic timing, Shaq chimed in, “You passed a bum. Thank you, Devin.”
Click here for the full video on Twitter.
As for Booker, he’s got a lot of gas left in the tank, and no doubt more records are going to be his over time. Along with collecting the record for the most 40-plus playoff games, he also made history in that same game for the most games with at least 40 points and 10 assists. He now has two of such, breaking a tie with Barkley (sorry, Chuck) and Kevin Johnson who have one each.
Booker also now has the most 30-point games in the Suns’ playoff history with 17, again beating Barkley’s record of 16. Time will tell how many more records Booker will collect over his time with the Suns. We’re sure Sir Charles will get over it…
