Just before Devin Booker got up to finish his video conference after Monday, he had one more thing he wanted to say. He had to call for the ball first.
Someone from the camera passed it to him and when Booker caught it, he unleashed a megawatts grin.
“Yessir, here it is, everyone!” he said and tucked the ball under his arm. “It’s going on Ebay for a million!”
The ball belonged to Chris Paul, who was presented to him in the locker room after the Phoenix Suns’ 128-127 overtime at Milwaukee Bucks, in which he overtook NBA icon Magic Johnson for fifth place on the list of everyday assistants. . Booker, who was on the other side of the milestone assist with a dunk, then returned the ball to Paul. And Paul said he wanted to send it somewhere in mind.
“The first thing I’m going to do is send this ball to Magic and see if he will sign it for me,” Paul said.
It was an evening of celebration and reflection for the Suns, with Paul’s personal achievement making one of the team’s greatest collective evenings of the season. The win in Milwaukee was not only one of the best games of the NBA season, but it also provided the kind of confirmation that young, emerging teams yearn for.
“That was all the playoffs were,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “Emotion. Physics. Players making plays. Situations in the late play. That was all. The resilience and relentless attitude we showed in overtime on the road, in overtime, says a lot about the character of the guys in our closet. . room. ‘
The Suns shook the bubble in Orlando last summer with their 8-0 run and set the table for a promising season. There was a renewed culture under Williams, with a focus on development, detail and defense. Suddenly, the Suns had some expectations.
Then they added Paul.
“I do not have enough time to talk about everything he has done,” Williams said. “He brought something like that – he improved the winning mentality. All our guys want to win. But when you see a guy who did it from afar, you see how he does it, from his diet to the exercise routine. He has every day, and then in the game when he can be in such situations and really raise the level of our team, it’s quite nice to watch. ‘
However, the bubbling phase is over. You feel like the Suns are a little tired of talking about it. They started running again last summer in Orlando, Florida. They were good then. They think they can be great now.
“Yep,” Booker said bluntly when asked if that was what he envisioned after Phoenix added Paul. “Straight up.”
Paul has a long history of leadership. His range of skills extends beyond the floor, with his cerebral approach to the game and the ability to communicate with teammates and enforce accountability. These things are known. But he had to regain his reputation with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season and unlikely lead them to a 5-seeded in the West, and with the Thunder ready to embark on a rebuild, Paul identified the Suns as the next team he could raise.
“I could sit here all day and give you story after story,” Williams said of Paul’s impact. “He definitely helps me as a coach. Our conversations in the game allow us to make plays that we probably would not have been able to make if I did not have the synergy with him.”
Paul is the steady companion of the Suns, the metronome who taps to maintain consistency. Young teams can ride the wave of a season or even of a game while losing out on streaks, drama or shortages. Paul is rarely rattled and is the weighted blanket for every stress point. Whether it’s a soothing midrange jumper to stop a run, or make a mistake to stop momentum, or to pull Booker aside for quick mentorship on the fly, like Monday after the Bucks’ Khris Middleton a let 3 his face, Paul chooses his spots.
“Pay attention to detail. To approach the game the right way. Noticing the little things and just thinking ahead,” said Deandre Ayton of the Suns. “Not to think like a normal basketball player, but to think ahead and know what the tendencies of teams are and how we can get better, how else we can adjust a offense or defense. To call things out early “Just be aware of every little thing.”
“He really gets the best out of people,” Ayton added. “He wants the best for you, and he’s going to talk to you, teach you. And it’s just about how much of your player is bought to help the team.”
These are moments when Paul passes by Magic that strikes home the reverence and respect he offers in Phoenix’s young dressing room. He’s a Hall of Famer waiting, and every player on the team knows that. The kind of intangible impact is the kind of example that contains only a list of career achievements as Paul put together.
“I’m inspired every day. I say it to Chris every day. It’s not something I’m going to take for granted,” Booker said. “I choose his brain. I listen to him. I watch him move, and even when he’s not talking or leading us, I’m just watching him do it. There’s so much respect for him and not just me, but worldwide. ‘
Ayton said: “The man proved he’s the ‘Point God’ every time he plays. Breaks milestones and stuff like that, praise, it’s an honor to be a part of it. got and we all celebrated, and I was like, ‘I appreciate you, man. I’m very honored to be a part of this. It’s crazy.’
‘It’s a different thing to win matches, but when you see the footsteps you want to add, or the kind of respect you want in the league and are in that person every day, it’s a different feeling. play harder. Because that person does the same thing you do every day to stay up to date with his game and help the team win and do everything in its power. ‘
Back in January, after the Suns lost three straight to fall back to .500, there was frustration in the locker room. Paul said the team is not good enough, but rather said they are not playing well enough. But the message was clear: he expected more from them, and he would do everything in his power to bring it to the fore.
Now, nearly three months later, the Suns 1½ game is back in the Utah Jazz for the top seed in the West, after putting a title contender on the road in a high-level back-and-forth game.
It’s hard to claim wins, especially in this odd 72-game season, but for a team like the Suns, every win over a competitive peer serves as a certain kind of validation. The sudden leap from bubble bumblebee to an apparent title candidate leaves doubters in abundance. There is always an air of “the suns are a nice story, but …” around them.
“I knew it from our team, but how do I say it?” Williams said. “It’s just good to see it play out in front of everyone.”
Towards the end of his availability in the media on Monday, Paul was asked about Ayton’s solid defensive effort on Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, and while praising the young center, he mentioned the unique game plan the Suns had to implement for Antetokounmpo. But there was a comfortable line he added, perhaps unconsciously, perhaps accidentally, or perhaps, deliberately.
“These games here, we’re in the West, they’re in the East,” Paul said casually. “The only time we could see them again is in the final.”