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Devin Booker was not going to allow the Phoenix Suns go behind 2-0. Booker scored 38 points to lead the Suns to a 123-109 victory against the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Tuesday night at the Footprint Center Phoenix. This brought the series to a 1-1 deadlock before it goes to Los Angeles later this week.
Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers were on a run early on, looking ready to build on their 5-point victory in Game 1. Leonard and Russell Westbrook combined for 32 points in the opening two quarters, building a 12-point advantage midway through the second. Despite this, the Suns finished the half on an 11-2 run, due to a big Booker 3-pointer in the last second of the quarter.
That run continued during the second half. The Suns started the third quarter on a 14-4 surge, giving them a 10-point advantage. That completed a dramatic 22-point swing in approximately nine minutes of game time, and gave the Suns their first lead since the game's opening minutes.
"Coming out of the halftime break, it was just juice, toughness, and grit," Suns coach Monty Williams remarked, according to Forbes' Shane Young. "Our offensive execution was adequate, but I believe we were able to get the stops in a row to begin the second half." That provided us with a lot of energy."
The Suns entered the fourth quarter with a 5-point lead, due entirely to Booker's 18 points. After back-to-back baskets by Chris Paul early in the quarter, that quickly turned into a double-digit advantage. From then, the Suns had an answer for every minor run the Clippers attempted. With barely three minutes remaining, Westbrook trimmed the score to six points, but Paul immediately responded with a fadeaway bucket of his own. This triggered an 8-0 run for Phoenix the rest of the way, resulting in a 14-point victory.
"We tried to blitz, we tried to fire, we tried a lot of things," Clippers coach Ty Lue told Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times. "Like I said, they just played great."
Booker had 9 assists to go along with his 38 points, and he shot 14 of 22 from the field. Torrey Craig scored 17 points on five 3-pointers and ended with 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Paul finished with 16 points and 8 assists while shooting 8 of 14 from the field. The victory ended Paul's 13-game playoff losing streak in postseason games in which official Scott Foster was also working. The series' third game is scheduled for Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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