PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker briefly left the Phoenix Suns’ Game 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday because of a left ankle injury he sustained after tripping over Lu Dort’s foot.
Booker returned a few minutes after the injury and said after the game he was “fine.” The five-time All-Star should be ready to play in Game 4 on Monday when the Suns try to avoid a four-game sweep.
The injury occurred early in the third quarter when Booker was cutting to the basket and tripped over Dort’s right foot. Booker said he thought Dort stuck out his foot a little on the play, but didn’t know if it was on purpose.
“I don’t know if it was intentional or not — I saw he stuck his leg out a little bit,” Booker said. “He threw his hand up to say that it was a foul and it just wasn’t granted.”
Said Phoenix coach Jordan Ott: “I thought I saw him raise his hand as a foul live. Then I looked at it quickly there on film. Whatever the case — was it a foul, was it not — he puts his hand up obviously indicating something occurred. And then for your best player to be out, in these types of games, those are massive calls or swings.”
It’s the latest example of the Suns having problems with the officiating in the series.
Booker was fined $35,000 for public criticism of officiating following the team’s Game 2 loss. The league said it found “no basis to any claim of bias or misconduct by game officials” despite Booker’s pointed criticism of official James Williams, but rescinded a technical foul at 2:05 in the third quarter that was “improperly assessed.”
The Thunder won that game 120-107.
Booker went down hard after Saturday’s incident, holding his ankle while obviously in pain. The 29-year-old got up fairly quickly, but hobbled to the bench and then back to the locker room.
A few minutes later, he was back at the scorer’s table and checked in to a loud ovation from the home crowd. Those cheers got even louder after Booker hit a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 75-69.
The Thunder responded with the next six points and eventually pulled away for the 121-109 win. Booker finished with 16 points and seven assists. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilegous-Alexander scored 42 points on 15-of-18 shooting.
The Booker-Dort interaction comes less than two weeks after the NBA said that Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball should have been ejected for an uncalled flagrant foul when he reached out and tugged on the ankle of Miami’s Bam Adebayo, causing a back injury that forced Adebayo out of a play-in tournament game.
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