Pascal Siakam comments on Devin Booker after Pacers ruin historic night

The Indiana Pacers welcomed the Phoenix Suns to town on Friday night. They were fresh off a nice win over the Philadelphia 76ers and hoping to make it two in a row.

However, Devin Booker was in the mood to play spoiler. Heading into the game, the Suns had won seven games in a row, and Booker was red-hot from the jump.

He finished the first quarter of the game with 29 points and had a 50-bomb mid-way through the third quarter. Phoenix was up by as many as 17 points in the second quarter and had a double-digit lead in the fourth.

But the Tyrese Haliburton-less Pacers weren’t ready to let Booker run wild.

Thanks to a well-rounded effort in the fourth quarter, Indiana was able to soil Booker’s big night. The Suns collapsed, ruining what was an epic performance from Booker.

After the game, Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam praised Booker for his play. (H/t Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star)

"He was awesome," Siakam said of Booker. "You play against those type of players, it's hard. Every possession they get the ball and you have to defend them. I thought he did excellent tonight, just continuing to fight, working hard every possession."

Booker finished the night with 62 points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal, and two blocks while shooting 22-of-37 from the field and 6-of-12 from behind the three-point line.

He put up the second-most points in a single game in Suns history, with the only higher-scoring game being his very own 70-point performance back in 2017.

As for the Pacers star, Siakam put up 31 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and one steal while shooting 14-of-22 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc.

The Pacers were able to lock in defensively, per head coach Rick Carlisle, which helped seal the win.

"In the fourth quarter, our guys just decided that we were going to make one additional effort on each defensive play and find a way to hang in and give ourselves a chance," Carlisle said. "And we did."

The Pacers have now won two straight games over playoff teams without Haliburton in the lineup, one of which was against a guy who put up 62 points.