Devin Booker showed a brand of toughness on Tuesday against Miami that sticks with you. The kind that shows up in a split-second decision. A chase down block. Full sprint. He went airborne, climbed so high he nearly clipped his head on the backboard, all in the name of a defensive stand.
Then gravity did its thing. He came down awkwardly on his left ankle in the third quarter, crumpled, and had to make his way to the locker room.
But like Lieutenant Spears, he came back.
That is not only toughness, at least in my view, it is leadership. Devin Booker rarely gets his flowers in that department, and I think we know why. He is quiet. He is not out there barking orders or making a show of it, not hunting cameras or moments. Some people mistake that silence for a lack of leadership. In Booker’s case, it has always been the opposite. He leads by example, and Tuesday night was another entry in that long-running file.
You never want a player putting himself in harm’s way, especially one this important. Booker believed he was good enough to go. He taped it up, came back out in the fourth quarter, and tried to will something into existence even as the night slipped away and the Suns took the loss.
Now the bill comes due. The injury report for Detroit is out. Booker’s name is on it. His designation? Questionable.
This is good news. Booker loves playing in Detroit. He is a Michigan guy, and that building has always brought something extra out of him. The timing still stings, with Madison Square Garden up next, another stage he seems to relish, but a questionable tag matters. That is not out. That is not doubtful. There is still daylight here.
Even if he sits, the designation tells a story. The injury might not be as severe as it first appeared. When you consider how high he was on that block attempt, the way he came crashing back down and landed on that ankle, it easily could have gone sideways in a much bigger way. He returned to the game. He tested it. That alone suggests this may look worse on replay than it actually is.
We’ll continue to monitor his progress as the Suns continue their six-game road trip over the next 10 days.
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