The Phoenix Suns dug themselves a hole in their first-round NBA playoffs series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, losing Game 2 120-107.
Suns star Devin Booker appeared to have an ax to grind against the officiating following the game. Booker had 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting with six rebounds. But with only four Suns players in double figures, it was apparently the referees’ fault for throwing the game into flux.
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Booker received a technical foul after he was saving a ball from going out of bounds. He flipped the ball backward and it hit Jaylin Williams in the face. Thunder guard Alex Caruso was seen calling for a technical foul. Referee James Williams obliged and gave Booker the penalty.
“In my 11 years, I haven’t called a ref out by name, but James was terrible tonight, through and through. It’s bad for the sport,” Booker told reporters in the postgame press conference. “Bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as the WWE if they’re not held responsible.”
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“I know I haven’t won a championship in this league, but I have been in it for 11 years now. So, to get to this point, to be treated like that, for me to even be saying something out loud, it’s bad.”
For what it’s worth, the Thunder are the best team in the NBA and entered the Western Conference playoffs with a 64-18 record and as the defending champions.
Phoenix put up 107 in Game 2 but only scored 84 points in a Game 1 loss.
The Suns had no answer for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 37 points on 13-of-25 from the floor and made all of the nine free throws he attempted. The Thunder shot 47% from the floor on 91 shot attempts. The Suns were 46% from the floor on 85 shot attempts.
Game 3 is in Phoenix on Saturday night.
