Check Out Some Insane Devin Booker Stats In This Devin Booker Blog About Devin Booker
As someone who grew up in the Chicagoland area watching the Bulls in the 90s, it has been pretty cool watching Devin Booker absolutely ball out this postseason. I'm getting flashbacks in a good way. What's the opposite of PTSD? That's what this kid is making me feel. Booker is flat out playing like Mike on the offensive end, mimicking a lot of Mike's moves, and doing it with ungodly efficiency.
But this blog isn't about Michael Jordan. My childhood hero doesn't need me reminding everyone why the thought of him not being the best baller of all time is flat out laughable. We can let the past be the past and just revel in the blossoming of the present. This is Devin Booker's moment and it should be celebrated with some good ole fashioned stat porn to showcase how insane of a playoffs he's having so far in 2023. Let's start with his last two games. 83 total points. I know scoring comes easy in today's game, but this is still stupid good and gives Book a SECOND 2-game playoff streak of scoring 83+ points. Here's where he stands in the all-time list of most two playoff game spans:
Again, it's not important to remind you how much easier scoring comes in today's game vs say, the late 80's / early 90s when playing defense wasn't frowned upon. Or that Michael Jordan didn't have another Michael Jordan on his team for other teams to worry about (Sorry Scottie, but you were no KD). And in case you were wondering, I broke down the individual two-game spans from the above graph to show each span in order of total points scored.
But it's been more than just an impressive two games for Devin Booker. It's been the entire damn playoffs! This kid has been dropping points like he's playing in an All-Star Game.
For those keeping score at home, that's 331 total points in his first nine playoff games of 2023. That puts him in elite company for most playoff games with 331 points across a nine game span. Here's the full list with Devin Booker's name in Suns purple font to make it clear this graph is about him.
Not to detract from Booker, but I forgot to customize the x-axis markers so in case you were wondering that's 28 total 9-game spans for MJ.
OK real talk now. The most impressive feat for Booker this playoffs isn't about the amount of points he's scored. It's about the efficiency. Volume is one thing, but if you're just chucking balls like Kobe and lack efficiency, it can actually hurt your team more than it helps. But Booker has been shooting with Wilt Chamberlain layup-like efficiency which is just flat out absurd.
I looked up NBA history's best true shooting percentage for a 9-game playoffs span with a minimum of 100 attempts to see where Book falls. He's #2. All time. To be honest, I was actually surprised he wasn't #1. But you know who was??? (to my great regret - no - it wasn't Michael Jordan) It was Devin's co-star Kevin Durant spanning from the end of 2018 into the 2019 playoffs. I'm sure having Steph Curry on his team didn't have anything to do with this but Durant had a .721 TS% with 299 points. Booker is at .711 with 331 points. And his is all in the same season.
KD has been no slouch in these playoffs either and has the potential to match Booker in efficiency as I just detailed. And yet somehow the Nuggets are still the favorite. Is that just how good Jokic is? I don't know, but this blog isn't about Jokic. This is Booker's moment and we'll end with some highlights:
- Jeffro