It was a dream season for the Suns.
64 wins. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs for the second consecutive year. One of the NBA’s snake-bitten franchises getting its first-ever title seemed inevitable. An all-time great like Chris Paul would finally be able to call himself a champion.
Losing Game 2 of the first round to the Pelicans doesn’t spell out immediate doom. You don’t win a title without facing some adversity along the way.
But losing the cool Devin Booker in the short-term — and perhaps even longer — might not be an obstacle even this juggernaut can overcome.
The Phoenix superstar, of course, left the loss to New Orleans a little after tweaking his hamstring. And now his series looks like it might be up in the air.
There's still an evaluation ongoing on MRI results of Phoenix Suns All-Star Devin Booker's right hamstring, but it appears unlikely he will be able to play in Games 3 and 4 in New Orleans, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 20, 2022
As anyone who follows sports of any kind knows, a hamstring tweak is a lot trickier than the surface might imply. Without putting my amateur stethoscope on, these are injuries that can fully heal in a couple of weeks, at best. At worst, you’ll recover, seem 100 percent, come back for full-throttle action, and then potentially tweak it again.
Devin Booker's hamstring injury, get better Book pic.twitter.com/PjK3yXVyCD
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) April 20, 2022
And that’s for an average, non-professional athlete. Not an NBA player running at lightning speed against some of the best athletes in the world.
Booker likely misses both upcoming games against the Pelicans this coming Friday and Sunday. It’s certainly no sure thing he even returns during this series. As a result, that dream season has a potential nightmare lurking.
After all, it was Booker and his top-10 individual scoring mark that kept the Suns afloat during Chris Paul’s absence earlier this season. It was Booker who finished the year as a legitimate MVP candidate and Phoenix’s inarguable best player.
The Suns might well be able to eventually overcome the Pelicans, who have their faults — they were a No. 8 seed for a reason. But C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram and Co. are more than talented enough to now turn this series into a dogfight.
Don’t be surprised if both squads head back to Phoenix with the Suns down 3-1. At a minimum, I would be shocked if the series isn’t tied. A healthy Booker is that good and that important to the Suns’ lofty dreams.
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