NBA games of the week: Young winners of All-Star weekend

Friday, Feb. 23: Los Angeles at Phoenix, 9:00 p.m. ET

Young winner: Devin Booker, 3-point Contest

Devin Booker remains the type of scorer who sneaks up on you. On Saturday, during his record-setting final round, nothing screamed Booker was going to break the record. A record-setting performance usually feels different, like a player hits 10 or 12 straight, something ridiculous. But Booker only went perfect on one rack, the fourth. He missed at least once on the others. It wasn’t until the final rack that Chris Webber, Brent Barry, Reggie Miller and I even realized he had 20. It also helps that Booker wasn’t the most demonstrative during or even after the performance, as if it was just another day shooting. And it also helps going 9-10 on money balls.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfUk9sSFn5G/?hl=en&taken-by=nba

What’s it say about the Suns season that, perhaps after Booker’s flamethrowing, the biggest moment was Steve Kerr allowing Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala coach the team during timeouts. Some will say a move like that is classless, but are OK with that same team winning by 46. As for me, I think it’s a moment of brevity and a smart move by a savvy coach who wanted to break the monotony of the long season. Sports shouldn’t take themselves so seriously all the time.

Their opponent, the Clippers, has turned into one of the more fun stories in the league. Over their past 10 games, they’re 7-3, and Lou Williams is the 16th leading scorer in the league despite playing off the bench. He’s the only player in the top 30, except for Tyreke Evans, who spent the first part of the season as a reserve, who can say that.