T.J. Warren, Archie Goodwin flourish as Phoenix Suns fall to Houston in summer league play
After earning an 86-77 win over the Washington Wizards Saturday afternoon, the Phoenix Suns plummeted back to earth Sunday, falling to the Houston Rockets 108-89 in NBA Summer League action taking place in Las Vegas.
While T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin continued their offensive momentum carrying over from Saturday’s contest, leading the Suns in scoring Sunday with 22 and 20 points, respectively, Phoenix was without the services of center Alex Len (coach’s decision) and received a rocky performance from rookie shooting guard Devin Booker.
Coming off his summer league debut in which the Kentucky product posted 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting to go along with four rebounds against Washington, Booker struggled through 29 minutes of action versus Houston, scoring just four points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field.
Booker would chip in five rebounds, two assists and two steals, but that smooth, confident stroke he was lauded for honing in Lexington remained missing in action. In fact, Booker has yet to make a three-pointer through two games in Vegas, going a combined 0-for-8 from distance.
Despite Booker’s inconsistent stroke, Suns summer league coach Nate Bjorkgren remains please with what’s he seen from the 18-year-old thus far.
“He’s been great,” Bjorkgren said. “Defensively, he’s been great as well. He had some good looks [Sunday], they just didn’t go down. They’ll go down next time. He shoots the ball nice, he shoots it clean, the guys were finding him…he’s going to be really good.”
Booker and the Suns’ next opportunity to redeem themselves will come Tuesday when they face the Utah Jazz at 4:30 p.m.