Devin Booker makes NBA history, and more ex-Cats links and stats
Booker in rare company
Former University of Kentucky star Devin Booker has scored 20-plus points in 16 straight games.
When the Phoenix Suns guard scored 31 on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks he passed LeBron James for the longest streak of 20-plus games by a player age 20 or younger.
Booker scored 27 of his points against the Bucks in the second quarter.
“What you’re seeing right now is a player who during that stretch reminded me of Kobe (Bryant),” Suns Coach Earl Watson said, according to a report on the team’s website. “What he did was pretty impressive in the fact that he’s only 20. He still hasn’t gotten into his grown man strength yet. Eventually he will and those drives where he’s going to the basket will eventually be dunks.”
Booker was 9-for-11 overall and 5-for-5 on threes during Saturday’s big quarter before the Bucks went on to win 137-112.
“It’s just that zone,” Booker told the Associated Press. “If you play basketball long enough, a lot of people get in that zone. It would have been better if it had lasted longer, the whole game, we could have come out with a win, but we didn’t.”
Booker is the only player in the NBA to score 27 or more in a quarter twice this season. He had 28 in the fourth quarter earlier this season against the Dallas Mavericks.
Nearly back-to-back triple-doubles for Cousins
DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings shocked the league with an overtime win against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. Cousins just missed out on a triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
While trade rumors consistently follow Cousins, he said of the big victory: “I love every guy on this team and I wouldn’t choose another group to go to battle with. This team is full of fight, full of heart and we showed it tonight.”
Cousins’ triple-double earlier in the week against the Suns wasn’t enough for a victory, though. He had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, but it was Booker with the late-game heroics. He banked in a buzzer-beater to give Phoenix a 105-103 victory.
ICYMI: Links from the past week
▪ John Stough, two-time UK men’s basketball national champion, dies
▪ Four ex-Cats to compete in NBA skills challenge
▪ Tyler Ulis holds off Whitney Creech for 2nd in Sports Figure voting
▪ Bobby Watson, 1,000-point scorer for UK, dies
▪ Cousins says Cauley-Stein has ability to make Kings ‘a scary team’
▪ Bulls’ young players say Rondo a ‘great teammate,’ ‘always positive’
▪ Karl-Anthony Towns pulls lefty hook out of his ‘tool box’
League rankings
There are five ex-Cats in the top 25 in the league in scoring with Booker closing in on making it six.
1. Russell Westbrook 31.0 points per game
4. DeMarcus Cousins 28.1
5. Anthony Davis 27.8
16. Karl-Anthony Towns 23.1
17. John Wall 23.0
25. Eric Bledsoe 21.4
27. Devin Booker 21.2
1. Hassan Whiteside 14.0 per game
6. Anthony Davis 12.2
7. Karl-Anthony Towns 12.0
11. DeMarcus Cousins 10.6
23. Julius Randle 8.2
1. James Harden 11.4 per game
2. John Wall 10.4
12. Rajon Rondo 6.6
17. Eric Bledsoe 6.2
1. Chris Paul 2.25 per game
2. John Wall 2.21
28. Eric Bledsoe 1.39
1. Rudy Gobert 2.53 per game
2. Anthony Davis 2.38
14. Karl-Anthony Towns 1.53
18. DeMarcus Cousins 1.36
NBA statistics
Statistics (through Feb. 5) for the 24 former Cats playing in the NBA:
Player | Team | G | Min | Pts | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk |
Suns | 51 | 33.4 | 21.4 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 1.4 | 0.4 | |
Suns | 50 | 34.8 | 21.2 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 0.3 | |
Kings | 44 | 12.4 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
Kings | 50 | 34.5 | 28.1 | 10.6 | 4.7 | 1.4 | 1.4 | |
Pelicans | 47 | 36.2 | 27.8 | 12.2 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 2.4 | |
Grizzlies | 50 | 23.1 | 6.5 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.4 | |
Pelicans | 49 | 24.6 | 11.4 | 5.8 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 1.1 | |
Thunder | 47 | 21.6 | 14.4 | 6.7 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 | |
Hornets | 50 | 29.5 | 9.1 | 7.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 1.0 | |
Suns | 48 | 21.1 | 11.2 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | |
Kings | 6 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | |
Cavaliers | 41 | 14.7 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | |
Jazz | 51 | 19.1 | 7.6 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | |
Magic | 24 | 21.7 | 8.9 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.1 | |
Nuggets | 50 | 19.9 | 8.7 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | |
76ers | 23 | 18.0 | 8.3 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | |
Raptors | 40 | 27.3 | 7.2 | 5.4 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | |
Lakers | 45 | 28.7 | 12.8 | 8.2 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | |
Bulls | 42 | 26.8 | 6.4 | 5.4 | 6.6 | 1.3 | 0.2 | |
Timberwolves | 51 | 36.4 | 23.1 | 12.0 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | |
Suns | 32 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | |
Wizards | 48 | 36.4 | 23.0 | 4.4 | 10.4 | 2.2 | 0.5 | |
Rockets | 9 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
Celtics | 14 | 6.3 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
D-League statistics
Statistics (through Feb. 5) for the six former Cats playing full-time in the NBA D-League:
Player | Team | G | Min | Pts | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk |
Greensboro Swarm | 24 | 33.0 | 16.8 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.3 | |
Grand Rapids Drive | 31 | 21.8 | 7.1 | 4.0 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | |
Delaware 87ers | 20 | 33.7 | 18.2 | 4.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.4 | |
Oklahoma City Blue | 32 | 30.1 | 18.4 | 8.2 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | |
Westchester Knicks | 27 | 28.4 | 11.9 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.1 | |
Fort Wayne Mad Ants | 28 | 30.7 | 18.9 | 7.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
Bonus tweets
So Devin Booker just scored 27 points.
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) February 5, 2017
In 7 minutes and 14 seconds.#WeArePHX pic.twitter.com/D1IJBwYcvk
"I called game." -- Devin Booker on his game-winning buzzer beater to lift the Suns past the Kings. pic.twitter.com/Dp1UkyinGZ
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) February 4, 2017
@boogiecousins gives sound advice on playing for @UKCoachCalipari & @KentuckyMBB to @Q_Green1 pic.twitter.com/GJarGSMUUU
— Anthony Gilbert (@axgilbert) January 31, 2017
.@TreyMambaLyles hosted an @OfficialJrJazz clinic for over 1,000 youth, parents and coaches! pic.twitter.com/BYdqB7IdFW
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 3, 2017
Suns' Devin Booker banks in game-winning buzzer-beater to top Kings... pic.twitter.com/qHbXvRY68q
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 4, 2017
Dennis Varney: 859-231-3514, @ExCats
This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Devin Booker makes NBA history, and more ex-Cats links and stats."