CLEVELAND: Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue played 11 years in the NBA, including three seasons with the “Showtime” Lakers.
But even Lue was amazed that Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker scored 70 points Friday night in a 130-120 loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Booker became the youngest player in NBA history to score 60 points or more, breaking Jerry West’s record from the 1961-62 season when West was 23.
The 13th overall pick out of Kentucky in 2015, Booker had never hit the 40-point mark in a game. His total was the most in the league since the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant poured in 81 against the Raptors in January 2006.
“To be 20 years old and score 70 points, that’s unbelievable, especially in Boston,” Lue said before Saturday night’s game against the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena. “Then I found out [the Celtics’] Avery [Bradley] didn’t play, too.
“Seventy points is unbelievable, especially in this league and all the great scorers, all the great players that come through this league. How many players have scored 70?” Told it was six, Lue added, “And doing it at 20 years old, that’s an unbelievable accomplishment.”
Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who played 10 years in the league, his last with the Cavs in 1997-98, was just as dumbfounded.
“You’re asking the wrong guy,” said Brooks, also a former point guard. “It took me 63 games to get 70 points. I’d get 70 in practice, combined. It doesn’t happen often.”
Told Booker was just one of six, Brooks said, “Six, that’s pretty unbelievable.”
Booker joined Bryant and hall of famers Wilt Chamberlain, David Robinson, David Thompson and Elgin Baylor.
Shaking it off
Cavs fans might have gotten a scare in Friday night’s victory at Charlotte against the Hornets when Kevin Love got his right shoulder and arm entangled with Marvin Williams as they battled for a rebound late in the third quarter. But Love returned to the game in the fourth quarter and downplayed what happened.
“[The ball] took a long bounce,” Love said. “I thought I had it, I didn’t see Marvin going for the rebound. He caught it and kind of yanked it down quick. It was fine. Just got caught in a bad spot and shook it off.”
Lesson from the past
With a four-game, three-city road trip completed Friday, the Cavs will barely be home before they head to San Antonio for games against the Spurs on Monday and the Chicago Bulls on Thursday. They will also practice in Chicago once.
But Lue broke out an example from last year’s championship run to help the Cavs cope with a 17-game March schedule that includes 12 games on the road.
“If you’re going to be a championship team, you’ve got to win on the road, anyway. The first three rounds in the Eastern Conference and then winning in Golden State in Game 7,” he said, referring to series against Detroit, Atlanta, Toronto and Golden State. “We’ve proved that. If my team is healthy, we’re going to be good. We’re going to be OK.”
Note
The Cavs’ Iman Shumpert missed Saturday’s game with right knee soreness.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.