Warriors guard Chris Paul knocked down a 19-foot jumper to pull Golden State within one point of the Phoenix Suns with 2:57 to play Tuesday night at Chase Center.
But Devin Booker -- Paul’s understudy for three seasons in Phoenix -- took over from there.
Over the final 69 seconds of the game, Booker assisted on the Suns’ final three buckets -- 3-pointers by Josh Okogie and Eric Gordon, and a Jusuf Nurkic layup to seal the game with 10.1 seconds left.
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Booker is more of a scorer than a facilitator, but with Paul now in the Bay Area, the Suns might need him to fill more of a pass-first role at times. After the game, Booker acknowledged his dishes late in the game could be traced back to years of lessons from the 19-year veteran.
"He’s one of the best players at manipulating the game and situations, reading the game and knowing what’s going to happen before each possession," Booker told reporters after the game. "He’s viewed the game for a very long time in a different spot. He was somebody that I could be a sponge to for a very long time and still to this day.
"I’ll ask him anything because I’ve been in the league for a long time now and not a lot of people care about it as much as he does. I love being around those type of people where the focus is there, the commitment is there."
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Booker still scored plenty, tallying a game-high 32 points on 13-of-21 shooting to go along with eight assists and six rebounds. Paul, in his Warriors debut, notched 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting with nine assists, six rebounds, two steals and a few "CP3!" chants from Dub Nation at Chase Center.
"Year 19, still doing it," Booker said of Paul. "Very impressive."
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