The Phoenix Suns entered the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks up by seven points. They lost that lead after they had already lost guards Jalen Green and Devin Booker to injury.<\/p>\n
Booker exited with a right ankle injury in the final seconds of the third quarter, a premature end to his 31-point outing that featured five 3s. Green played only four minutes and, as a precautionary measure, didn’t return to the game once he left in the first quarter with right hamstring tightness.<\/p>\n
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The Hawks (22-25) mounted a comeback and won 110-103, putting a stop to a three-game Suns (27-18) win streak, as Phoenix’s six-game road trip came to a close in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
“It’s just tough. You feel for them,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said of Booker and Green postgame, via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic<\/a>, who reported that Booker left the locker room after the game on crutches.<\/p>\n Ott continued: “Book really figured it out in the third quarter. It felt like he’d been doing so much for us all season long, and then there he was in his flow state. That’s the tough part about it. But I know he bounces back incredibly fast.<\/p>\n “And then Jalen’s worked every single day to get back, to go out and play basketball. Then basketball’s taken away. So it’s tough. It’s tough for his teammates. It’s tough for him, obviously.”<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Hawks, who have now won 12 straight home games over the Suns, were paced by big man Onyeka Okongwu. He turned in 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. They also got 23 points and a career-high 18 rebounds from Jalen Johnson, as well as 21 bench points from CJ McCollum.<\/p>\n Booker’s scoring display stole the spotlight. That was, before he went down.<\/p>\n The four-time All-Star hurt his right ankle while stepping on the foot of the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Okongwu. Booker was running back down the court with his head turned toward Grayson Allen trying to save a loose ball from going out of bounds. As a result, Booker collided into Okongwu and hit the deck in pain.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Booker grabbed at his ankle in agony. He eventually needed some assistance to get off the floor.<\/p>\n As for Green, he was in his second game back after missing 33 consecutive outings with a right hamstring strain<\/a>. Friday marked only his fourth game with the Suns since they acquired him while trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets<\/a>. Green came off the bench, like he did on Tuesday in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers, but this time recorded a mere four points in a short-lived appearance.<\/p>\n