It didn’t take long for Book to start in Tokyo
Phoenix Suns starting shooting guard Devin Booker finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, five rebounds and three steals in just under 19 minutes during Team USA’s 120-66 win over Iran in the group stage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday night.
Booker, who had four points on 1-of-6 shooting with three assists, two rebounds and a steal in the Americans’ 83-76 loss to France on Sunday, entered the starting lineup along with Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, replacing Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine.
Booker and Holiday played alongside Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo.
Was able to access GIFs for a limited time so I’ll post what I can. Deflection led to a Durant outlet pass to Booker, who got fouled and made two free throws. pic.twitter.com/zaiyF1LBY3
— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) July 28, 2021
Booker’s inclusion appeared to lead to much better ball movement from Team USA, which shot 42-of-76 (55.3 percent) from the field and assisted on 34 of its shot attempts. Booker was the Americans’ second-leading scorer behind Lillard, who had 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
Booker had six of his points in the first 3:09 of the third quarter, including this two-handed dunk after a bad pass from Iran.
Booker steal and slam pic.twitter.com/jcgTiOutxk
— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) July 28, 2021
He then had six more points in the last 1:55 in the fourth, which featured another dunk with four seconds remaining.
Booker was one of seven USA players who shot at least 50 percent from the field per a minimum of five shot attempts. All 12 Americans who played in the game scored.
Smooth. Nice floater from Book along the baseline. Up to eight points. pic.twitter.com/7TqFo3OhOu
— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) July 28, 2021
Team USA will next face Czech Republic on Saturday at 5 a.m. PT. A win for the Americans would advance them to the knockout round.