World Peace: Only MVPs to talk about are Suns’ Chris Paul, Devin Booker
Apr 11, 2022, 5:07 PM
Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns celebrates with Chris Paul #3 in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on April 26, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The 2021-22 Phoenix Suns are the greatest regular-season team in franchise history having gone 64-18.
The previous franchise record for wins came in 1992-93 and 2004-05 when the Suns went 62-20 and Charles Barkley and Steve Nash were awarded the NBA’s MVP award, respectively.
And with this season’s Phoenix squad going into the postseason as the No. 1 seed with homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) told The Herd’s Colin Cowherd on Monday that the focus should be on two Suns players.
“Yes, with two MVPs,” he said of Phoenix being the best team in the league this year. “The only MVPs we should be talking about are Chris Paul and (Devin) Booker. That’s it.”
"The only MVP's we should be talking about are Chris Paul and Devin Booker… This team is just dominant." @MettaWorld37 is high on the Phoenix Suns as we enter the playoffs… pic.twitter.com/kBMSOrnzDz
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) April 11, 2022
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“He’s a winner,” Peace said of Booker. “He’s showing that he’s going to be a winner. You have to win a title to be a full-out winner, but he’s showing that he’s a winner.
“He’s showing that he can play and he plays the game the right way. He moves well without the ball, can play on the ball or can play off the ball. He’s a real player.”
Peace misspoke in the clip when he said the Suns were 10-12 games better than the next-best team in the NBA. Perhaps he was looking at the Miami Heat, who finished 11 games behind Phoenix despite claiming the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed with a record of 53-29.
However, that metric shouldn’t be discounted, as even the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors — who own the NBA’s all-time regular-season wins record at 73-9 — only finished six games better than the next-best team in the league that season. Compare that to Phoenix, who finished this year eight games better than the next-best team (Memphis Grizzlies).
“I see an old school beginning Warriors — a team that plays together, a team that moves without the ball, a team that executes shell defense, executes the fastbreak, movement, back cuts, face cuts, everything,” Peace said of the Suns’ makeup.
“And you see a young Deandre Ayton, you see a little Tim Duncan over there — just a really smart player. This team is just dominating.”
