Booker ends up being too much for 76ers to handle

The Philadelphia 76ers had zero answers to shutting down Devin Booker during Monday’s 115-101 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Thanks to having two of the league’s top rising stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally been earning the respect they deserve this season by working their way into becoming one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference. But if there’s anything to takeaway from Monday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, a game in which Devin Booker dropped 46 points like it was no big deal, it would the Sixers still have a few areas in need of improvement, especially when it comes to defending opposing shooting guards.

In a game that seemed like it would work to Philadelphia’s advantage from a talent perspective along with the fact they were playing at home against a young, rebuilding Phoenix team, it was Booker that prevented that from happened thanks to his big night. Dating back to 2015, Booker has been one of those players that seems to get better with experience, as he’s worked his way to becoming one of the league’s top shooters, and the Suns have every reason in the world to be thrilled over what the future holds for the former Kentucky standout.

From a Philadelphia fan perspective, watching Booker connect on 17 of 32 field goals, including 5 of 8 from three-point range, was beyond frustrating since the Suns shooting guard seemed to single-handedly defeat the Sixers on his own. And when seeing some of the tough losses this team has dealt with as of late including games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, this was a win Philadelphia needed to have at home.

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At least with an upcoming game on Thursday at home against the Los Angeles Lakers, Simmons and Embiid will be extra motivated to make sure they bounce back strong thanks to all of the trash talking from Lonzo Ball‘s father over the months. But maybe this time around, Philadelphia can play defense well enough against Los Angeles to make sure they don’t deal with another opponent dropping 40+ points like Booker did on Monday since they could use a win before a tough matchup this weekend against LeBron James in Cleveland.