Devin Booker's Performance Was Enough To Make The Winning And Losing Locker Rooms Undergo A Role Reversal

Devin Booker with a 70 point game. He was on fire tonight. And remember, he's only 20 years old □□□pic.twitter.com/CtxDfvN006

— Athlete Advisory™ (@AthleteAdvisory) March 25, 2017

​Losing Locker Room:

7️⃣0️⃣

A post shared by NBA (@nba) on Mar 24, 2017 at 7:46pm PDT

​First and foremost - as ass backwards as it seems - it makes total sense for the entirety of the Phoenix Suns organization to be celebrating a historical individual accomplishment. We are talking about a team that is actively tanking while starting a lineup that's barely old enough to get into a University of Arizona frat party. In terms of statement wins, having one of their own become the youngest player to 60 points (before eclipsing that number by TEN) in a loss is as close as they are going to get. It takes a real killjoy to hate on a team for finding something to applaud during a lost season, especially when that something is a 20 year old becoming only the SIXTH player in NBA history to achieve an eye-popping milestone.

The Suns are clearly building for the future, so they probably should be happy that the key cog in that future just proved he's capable of greatness. I know there was some completely unnecessary fouling that led to such a high total, but - as far as stat padding goes - hitting 70 points while shooting over 50% from the field with only 4 made 3's, a damn near perfect free throw percentage, and 6 assists is about as efficient as you could possibly hope for. 

Winning Locker Room:

Celtics locker room basically silent. Like they lost.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 25, 2017

Honestly, I was going to take the Celtics silence for apathy. The truth is they had no reason to be jovial after a win over a bottom feeder that was all but locked by the end of the first half. I would have assumed that the subdued demeanor of a team that "looked like they lost" would be the same of a team that "looked like they didn't particularly care that they won". Then something weird started happening...

Jae Crowder (bossmann99) - one of the many Celtics defenders that fell victim to a baby faced assassin - felt the need to try and rain on his parade (before instantly getting struck down from his pedestal with some ruthless return fire)...

---

Isaiah Thomas went the "look at the standings" route that is generally reserved for losing teams in winning situations...

Isaiah shrugs off Suns' push to get Booker points: "We're headed to the playoffs and they're headed to the lottery."

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) March 25, 2017

You don't even have to look at the boxscore to know how impressive Devin Booker's night was. All you have to do is look at the outpouring of saltiness from the team that should have felt no shame in giving him his due props. The bitchy way the C's reacted to having 70 dropped on them by a guy that can't even buy his own beer is proof positive that doing so is worthy of a couple cheers. Boston responded like someone just told them that Peyton Manning is statistically better than Tom Brady, and it was all because a kid reached such rarified air on their home court. Devin Booker legitimately made the Celtics feel like losers in a game that they won by double digits, and - for a team as hopeless as the Phoenix Suns - that in itself is a win.