9 ridiculous stats from Devin Booker’s 70-point game

Devin Booker just had the best performance in an NBA game that we’ve seen since Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points in 2006. That’s right — Booker scored 70 points, with 51 points coming in the second half. That’s absolutely, utterly absurd.

The Phoenix Suns lost to the Boston Celtics 130-120, but that was bound to happen. What Phoenix did learn on Friday is that Booker isn’t just a great scorer — he might be a truly incredible one.

Here are the most ridiculous stats from his 70-point game.

Devin Booker joins a truly elite brotherhood of players reaching 70 points — Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, and David Robinson are the other five.

Chamberlain did it six times, and obviously has the possibly unapproachable record of 100 points in a single game. The rest of them reached the 70-point plateau only once, ranging between 71 points (Robinson and Baylor) and 81 (Bryant).

A 19-point first half is a very good half. It damn sure isn’t indicative that said player is about to drop SEVENTY, though. In that sense, it’s incredibly ordinary.

The record for a half is 59 points by Chamberlain — a 100-point game skews everything, of course. But FIFTY-ONE IN A HALF. In 24 minutes. That’s damn near impossible.

Booker is 20 years old. He turns 21 on Oct. 30. Legally, he will be allowed to consume alcoholic beverages at that point.

I do think he should get a one-time exception tonight to spray a little bit of champagne. You scored 70 points, my man.

Booker was still passing, even deep into the fourth quarter.

No, let’s not act like he wasn’t gunning for as many points as he could score, especially as his second half total started to add up. But Booker made a couple great passes in the fourth quarter, even on plays he didn’t necessarily need to pass on. He even had a chase down block on Isaiah Thomas.

It didn’t matter for the game itself — Boston led the whole time, and its 10-point final advantage looks closer than the game actually was. But Booker wasn’t ONLY gunning on Friday.

That’s the thing — Booker had 52 points with five minutes to play, and then 54 with under three minutes. Then, that’s when Booker really started cooking. In the final 2:19, Booker went from 54 to 70 points.

He was helped by his head coach Earl Watson, who called two timeouts and intentionally fouled once to give Booker extra possessions. Asked about it after the game, Watson responded as such:

And why should he be apologetic? It has been well chronicled how Chamberlain’s 100-point game became a mockery by the second half. This didn’t even come close.

Watson did everything he could to help his player make NBA history. That’s all you can ask for.

LeBron James scored 56 points as a 20 year old. That’s the highest scoring game for someone under the age of 21 in NBA history. Or, well, it was. Thanks Devin.

This one almost seems impossible, but it’s true. The last time it happened, Booker wasn’t even alive.

If you watched this game from start to finish, and if you were around in the first quarter when the game was 22-3 with less than five minutes remaining, this is the last thing you ever would have expected. But Booker, of course, finally nailed a jumper with 4:39 left in the first frame, and eventually made this game all about him.

You sure can’t blame him, but Booker had a somewhat open three in the final seconds — and then a wide open free throw line jumper off an offensive rebound that was just a little long. That’s how close he was to adding to his tally.

Booker also had a three when he was sitting at 64 points that didn’t count because of a foul that took place moments earlier. The referees reviewed it and had Jared Dudley shoot free throws, but it easily could have been a situation where Dudley shot AND Booker’s three counted.

Still, Booker can’t really be upset with 70 points — 70 by itself is impressive enough, you know?

What a hell of a performance.