There’s something about Atlanta that just doesn’t sit right with the Phoenix Suns. State Farm Arena has been a house of horrors for them-no wins there since 2014-and Friday night added another chapter to the saga. What was already a tough road game turned into something heavier when Jalen Green, just two games into his return, went down again.
That kind of moment doesn’t just hurt physically-it cuts deeper. This Suns team has been in the trenches with Green through his rehab.
They’ve seen the grind, the frustration, the determination. So when he finally gets back on the floor, only to be sidelined again, it’s a gut punch.
You could feel the air go out of the team.
But Devin Booker wasn’t about to let the night slip away without a fight. He came out in the third quarter like a man on a mission, dropping 16 points in that frame alone and finishing with 31.
It was classic Booker-controlled aggression, finding seams in the defense, pulling his team forward by sheer will. He was keeping the Suns in it, refusing to let the night spiral.
And then, Atlanta struck again.
With just 5.2 seconds left in the third, Booker was hustling back in transition. He glanced over his shoulder-probably to locate a trailing defender-but didn’t see Onyeka Okongwu in his path.
He stepped on Okongwu’s foot, and his right ankle rolled hard. Booker went down immediately, clearly in pain, and limped off toward the locker room.
It was one of those moments where time seems to stop. The Suns had already lost Green.
Now Booker? The heart and engine of this team?
For Phoenix, it wasn’t just another game in Atlanta. It was a reminder of how fragile momentum can be, how quickly a team’s outlook can shift. And for a squad trying to find its rhythm midseason, this one stung.