Suns’ Booker up for NBA clutch shot of the year, Chriss a finalist for best block
Apr 19, 2018, 8:08 AM | Updated: 11:27 am
Devin Booker’s three-pointer to force the Phoenix Suns into overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 22 is among the NBA Awards Fan Vote finalists for the best clutch shot of the 2017-18 season.
Let’s get to that in a second, because the more pressing matter is Marquese Chriss’ nomination for the block of the year. This isn’t to question his candidacy at all, because he had quite a few highlight blocks this past year, most notably against the Atlanta Hawks.
But we can complain about which block made the list of finalists.
A March 4 chasedown block of rookie big man John Collins was definitely vicious. Collins has length and hops, and Chriss catching up to his posterization attempt to send the forward crashing to the floor isn’t anything to shrug at. It took guts, for sure.
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But, um, remember this?
On Jan. 2, Atlanta was in Phoenix and trailing 102-101.
An inbound play put Chriss in a pick-and-roll, and he made up for a slight hesitation by recovering for a block of Taurean Prince right at the rim. He turned what looked like a well-executed lob play by the Hawks into a defensive gem for the Suns.
Easily, the results of that play outweigh those of Chriss’ March 4 rejection of Collins, which came in the third quarter of a tied game.
As for Booker’s nomination, it sure looked nice in a vacuum.
Down 105-102 to the Bucks and needing to go the length of the court in 4.0 seconds, Tyler Ulis advanced the ball, and Booker’s turnaround from well beyond the three-point line went down at the buzzer.
But in the next five minutes, so did Phoenix, which dropped the overtime game that served as former Suns guard Eric Bledsoe’s return to Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Fans can vote for Booker’s and Chriss’ respective plays at NBA.com.
They can also vote on social media by posting #AwardName and the first and/or last name of the players; #ClutchShotOfTheYear and Devin/Booker, or #BlockOfTheYear and Marquese/Chriss.
The winners in each of the categories for the plays of the year — dunk, clutch shot, assist, block and handle — will be unveiled during TNT’s coverage of the Western Conference Finals, then go head-to-head in a voting session for play of the year.
