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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Zeglinski

Without Devin Booker, the Suns are in trouble against the Pelicans

It was a dream season for the Suns.

64 wins. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs for the second consecutive year. One of the NBA’s snake-bitten franchises getting its first-ever title seemed inevitable. An all-time great like Chris Paul would finally be able to call himself a champion.

Losing Game 2 of the first round to the Pelicans doesn’t spell out immediate doom. You don’t win a title without facing some adversity along the way.

But losing the cool Devin Booker in the short-term — and perhaps even longer — might not be an obstacle even this juggernaut can overcome.

The Phoenix superstar, of course, left the loss to New Orleans a little after tweaking his hamstring. And now his series looks like it might be up in the air.

 

As anyone who follows sports of any kind knows, a hamstring tweak is a lot trickier than the surface might imply. Without putting my amateur stethoscope on, these are injuries that can fully heal in a couple of weeks, at best. At worst, you’ll recover, seem 100 percent, come back for full-throttle action, and then potentially tweak it again.

And that’s for an average, non-professional athlete. Not an NBA player running at lightning speed against some of the best athletes in the world.

Booker likely misses both upcoming games against the Pelicans this coming Friday and Sunday. It’s certainly no sure thing he even returns during this series. As a result, that dream season has a potential nightmare lurking.

After all, it was Booker and his top-10 individual scoring mark that kept the Suns afloat during Chris Paul’s absence earlier this season. It was Booker who finished the year as a legitimate MVP candidate and Phoenix’s inarguable best player.

The Suns might well be able to eventually overcome the Pelicans, who have their faults — they were a No. 8 seed for a reason. But C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram and Co. are more than talented enough to now turn this series into a dogfight.

Don’t be surprised if both squads head back to Phoenix with the Suns down 3-1. At a minimum, I would be shocked if the series isn’t tied. A healthy Booker is that good and that important to the Suns’ lofty dreams.

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