MILWAUKEE – When Chris Paul got into the fervor of finally making his first trip to the NBA Finals, he thanked the Los Angeles Clippers organization and fans he represented for six seasons. He praised Monty Williams, the coach he went to the playoffs with more than a decade ago and with whom he is reunited in Phoenix. He pointed to a suite at the Staples Center, to his family who had accompanied him through injuries and crushing losses, along with the best moments of his Hall of Fame career. But when Rachel Nichols of ESPN asked Paul why he was pointing to the Phoenix Suns without hesitation, he pointed to the left and announced, “That light-skinned guy over there, No. 1”. That guy was Devin Booker, the aspiring all-star who aimed to bring the suns back into celebrity. And Paul’s gut instinct was right about how a pairing would play out. Booker and Paul created a deadly backcourt tandem in their first season, culminating in this magical playoff run now two wins away from their first NBA championship. 36-year-old Paul looks like a timeless wonder while 24-year-old Booker appears to be on tour for a dominant heyday. Booker and Paul, who take on the Bucks in Game 3 on Sunday, score the most points in the first two games of an NBA final in league history (113) from a starting back space – an achievement Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer does not was able to show up with appropriate comparison. “It’s hard for me to find out how to protect them both,” said Budenholzer soberly and with a touch of desperation. “I can’t come up with a good comparison.” Booker and Paul are both fierce competitors and basketball junkies, which makes them like-minded people despite the age difference of 12 years. They are both maestros in pick and roll and in the lost art of the midrange jumper, who always comes to his place with the ball in hand without it feeling like “your turn, my turn”. And they’ve both shown a willingness to sacrifice personal scores or shine because at this critical point in their respective careers, all that counts is winning. It’s a partnership that is both surreal and awesome, and one that has the suns on the verge of reaching the mountaintop of the NBA. “You fit perfectly. You are the perfect storm,” said Melvin Booker, Devin’s father and former professional basketball player. “You are the same person. You are so competitive. Like you said.” , they’re both dogs. ”Booker can still mimic the public announcer saying a high-pitched” CP-dreieeeeeeeeeeeig! ” would scream. whenever Paul took a shot from beyond the bow with the New Orleans Hornets. A teenage Booker and his father took the 110-mile journey from Moss Point, Mississippi to New Orleans to see Paul and the next NBA action. Booker became such a “fanboy” that he wore Paul’s shoes all his high school career. “Someone I have adored for a very long time,” Booker said. Booker eventually turned into a one-and-done lottery contender, the sixth man on While Booker was training with close friends Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell in Los Angeles prior to the 2015 draft, Paul stopped by to come with training them soon after he and the Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs. Through the drills, he immediately noticed that Booker had a smooth shooting stroke. But when the session shifted to 1v1 training, Paul got a taste of Booker’s advantage. After training, Paul told then agent Leon Rose (now New York Knicks’ president), “Man, he’s good. He’s nice. He can pl ay.” “He didn’t care what it was,” Paul said about Booker. “He was in competition. One thing you can see in this league is that a lot of people who are like that go a lot further than people who are just experienced.” Later that day, Paul invited Booker, Towns, and Russell to their home to talk about NBA life on and off the court. How seriously Paul took his craft – including hiring a personal basketball coach, cook, and person that works on his body – got an immediate response from Booker for us, “recalls Booker,” for a Hall of Fame guy, an all-star guy who comes to the gym and with us guys (the ones) in our careers hadn’t proven anything yet … collapse of the game’s business. That was all at a time before we were in the NBA, so seeing someone have it all together (when it came to the highest level of professionalism (was helpful). Booker and Paul started playing against each other as NBA opponents, in Paul’s words: “We were damned close to fighting.” “Booker agrees and says,” I started talking to him straight away. “Booker loaded clips into an app showing all the shots against an individual Matchup put together when Paul got in the mail every time he switched to Booker, it resulted in a healthy dose of twittering. I don’t do that. I don’t do that today, “said Booker.” … I have a couple of times hit him and he stopped me a couple of times. “But after the games Booker and Paul always chatted. Booker hired his first All-Star team last season, cameras kept him and Paul in the locker room with a warm greeting. Paul, watching games around the clock, could see that Booker was a promising player who, due to team fighting and organizational instability, hadn’t gotten a chance to put his skills on a meaningful stage during his first five NBA seasons. “I knew that,” said Paul. “It’s not about noticing that. … We know each other, know each other. ”When rumors surfaced that the Suns would trade after their stunning 8-0 Orlando Bubble Run against Paul, Evin and Melvin thought“ we have a really good chance ”of having a special season. Booker and Paul worked out together on the Phoenix pitch hours after the acquisition was officially announced, crushing the session before Paul was scheduled to do a round of State Farm commercials on the set. During a 3v3 drill the first day during training camp, Booker said that he and Paul “got in there … I don’t think (we were) really about throwing hands, but the closest you get to it without to do it. ”But Booker immediately praised Paul’s leadership style, which required focus but also built camaraderie with new and younger teammates. “That’s what drives me,” Booker said during training camp. “You can feel his presence in the gym. You’re not necessarily out there to impress him. You just know the level of play he was playing at, the intensity and the competitive spirit he always played with from a distance … it definitely keeps me at a higher level every time I come in here. ”The fit on the pitch between two ball-dominant guards was initially not seamless. The Suns started the season 8-8, and at that time, Williams announced in a meeting that their starting unit had the worst plus / minus in the NBA. Williams today believes he was trying to force what worked during the 2019-20 season from Booker and Ricky Rubio. The coach vowed to get out of the way and allow Booker and Paul to figure out how to complement each other and improve their teammates. They focused on details like viewing angles, ball and body movement, and pace. Paul, who missed part of the preseason, felt more comfortable running the Suns sets. They recalled that the defense would fuel their offensive. They sacrificed their own potential shots to improve Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson’s game. “They see so many defense mechanisms and don’t force the problem,” Williams said. “That’s the only thing I noticed about these guys. Very rarely do they wave someone out of the way, i.e. their own teammates. They just play the next real game. ”The Suns offense climbed steadily into the top 10 and stayed there for the rest of the season. Both players were dangerously effective with the ball in hand using different styles. Booker is the smart bucket getter with a mix of point book distribution skills. Paul, on the other hand, is a clinical surgeon who manipulates the defenses while rarely turning them around and can get to his signature elbow at any time. In the mid-season, Booker and Paul were both all-stars. In July, Paul was an All-NBA second-team selection after averaging 16.4 points and 8.9 assists per game in the regular season, and Booker (25.6 points, 4.3 assists per game) was an Olympian for the first time. Possibilities of the knock-down clutch. A prime example of the Booker-Paul Tag Team occurred in the closing seconds of a January game in Dallas when Paul Booker delivered a perfect bounce pass to a game-winning 3-pointer off-court bond, they live in the same Valley Street, which makes it easy to meet up every night to see, rewind and analyze the nuances of the games. Booker has observed Paul’s busy routine of taking care of his body and calls it “inspirational.” He, Paul and Booker’s dog, Haven, heap up in the car regularly to go to the 5G Performance Center for daily COVID-19 tests or to go to Melvin’s house for hours of chatting public insight into their extrajudicial dynamics. When Paul described Booker as “the oldest 24-year-old I’ve ever met in my life” after Game 4 of the Clippers series, Booker was chewing sushi smartly in the back of the room. As Paul spoke after the suns had won the West, Booker walked in unannounced, pulled up an extra chair, and placed the trophy next to Paul. And Booker still has those moments when he reminds everyone around him, “This is CP3!” Zero ego involved, “said Booker. “I think that’s the most important part. We both want to see each other successful. We both want the team to be successful. We all want the team to be successful. When you’re all on the same page that way, the relationships tend to come about. ”Paul added,“ That’s why I think that worked – because none of us have an ego. ”The night that Booker lost 47 points to help the Suns knock out the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, Melvin told the Pauls, “They don’t understand how lucky we are as a family to have the Paul family in Phoenix team with us” while partying in their suite in the Staples Center. Paul was sensational in the close-out games against Denver (37 points) and the Clippers (41 points) – performances that included a Booker triple double with 40 points (the first of his career) in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals . But the power of the backcourt reached historic heights during the final. In a 118-105 win in Game 1, Paul scored 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting, while Booker scored 27 points, including 10 out of 10 from the free throw line. Two days later, Booker buried seven 3-pointers as part of his 31 points while Paul added 23 points. Less than eight minutes to go in that 118-108 win, Booker set a screen for Paul and when PJ Tucker Booker left Paul to double on the right wing, Booker was freed at the top of the 3-point arc. Paul turned the ball on Booker to restore Phoenix’s lead to 13 points. It was the kind of sequence Paul envisioned when he signed out for the Suns, which he shared with the world a few minutes after reaching the finals together. Now, this deadly backcourt tandem, these competitive soulmates, those middle-class maestros who just want to win at this critical moment in their careers are on the verge of leading their team to an NBA championship, literally a fanboy he grew up and made now (am) right next to him in the back room, ”said Booker. “It’s just crazy how life comes full circle. I am blessed to be in this position. ”
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