Nobody saw it coming. Not the fans at TD Garden, not the Boston Celtics defenders, and honestly, probably not even Devin Booker himself when he woke up that Friday morning. On March 24, 2017, a 20-year-old kid from the Phoenix Suns did something that Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and LeBron James never managed to do. He hung 70 points on an opponent in a single regulation game.
It was wild. It was controversial. It remains one of the most polarizing "all-time" performances in NBA history.
The Suns were bad. Really bad. They entered the night 22-51, basically a collection of teenagers and G-League hopefuls just trying to survive the end of a long season. Meanwhile, the Celtics were fighting for the top seed in the East. By halftime, Phoenix was down by 23 points. The game felt like a standard blowout, the kind of late-season matchup you’d switch off by the third quarter. But then Booker decided to stop missing.
Breaking Down the Devin Booker 70 Point Game
If you look at the box score, the numbers look like a typo. 70 points. 21-of-40 from the field. 24-of-26 from the free-throw line. What people often forget is that Booker didn't just rain down threes all night. He actually only made four of them. He got his work done the old-fashioned way: relentless drives, mid-range "bucket-getting," and living at the charity stripe.
He had 19 points at the half. Solid? Sure. Historic? Not even close.
The explosion happened in the second half where he poured in 51 points. Fifty-one. In two quarters. He became the youngest player to ever cross the 60-point threshold, and then he just kept sprinting toward the 70 mark. The Boston crowd, famous for being some of the most ruthless fans in sports, actually started cheering for him. They knew they were winning the game, so they decided they wanted to see history instead.
The Controversy: "Empty" Stats or Pure Greatness?
You can’t talk about the Devin Booker 70 point game without talking about the drama. After the buzzer sounded, the Suns lost 130-120. In the locker room, the Suns players celebrated like they’d just won the Finals, posing for a now-infamous photo where Booker held up a white piece of paper with "70" scrawled on it—a nod to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game photo.
Jae Crowder, then a Celtic, wasn't having it. He commented on Instagram: "Never seen so many guys happy after an 'L'."
Isaiah Thomas called it "weird."
The criticism was basically this: Phoenix's coach, Earl Watson, started calling timeouts and intentionally fouling the Celtics late in the game just to get the ball back for Booker. They were down double digits with no real chance of winning, but they were playing for the record books. Critics argued it was "stat-padding" in its purest form.
But honestly? Who cares?
Scoring 70 points in the NBA is nearly impossible. If it were easy to stat-pad your way to 70, everyone would do it. At 20 years old, Booker was being double and triple-teamed by a playoff-bound Celtics defense that included Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart (though Bradley was out that night). He still found a way to put the ball in the hoop.
Where Booker Ranks in the 70-Point Club
For a long time, the 70-point club was a tiny, exclusive room. You had Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, David Thompson, David Robinson, and Elgin Baylor. That was it. Booker was the sixth member. Since that night in 2017, the NBA has seen a scoring explosion. We've seen Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid, and Luka Dončić all join the ranks.
But Booker’s performance still holds a special kind of weight.
- Age: He was 20. Everyone else on that list was a seasoned vet or in their prime.
- The Venue: Doing it in Boston, on that parquet floor, is different than doing it at home against a tanking team.
- Efficiency: He shot over 50% from the field while being the only real threat on his team.
When you look at the Devin Booker 70 point game, you have to look at the context of the Suns at that time. They had nothing. No identity, no hope, and no stars. That night gave Phoenix fans a reason to believe that the skinny kid from Kentucky was actually "The One." It was the "Be Legendary" moment Kobe Bryant had challenged him to achieve.
The Impact on the Suns Franchise
Before Booker, the Suns' franchise record for points in a game was 60, held by Tom Chambers. Booker didn't just break it; he shattered it. It shifted the narrative around him from "good young player" to "transcendent scorer."
📖 Related: NFL Week 9 TV Map: Why Your Local Station Might Skip the Game of the Year
It also served as a massive middle finger to the idea that he was just a "system player." There was no system in Phoenix in 2017. It was just Booker vs. Everybody.
Common Misconceptions About the Night
A lot of people think Booker just got hot from three. Like I mentioned earlier, he only took 11 threes. He was aggressive. He forced the refs to blow the whistle. He used his footwork to get to his spots. If you go back and watch the highlights, it’s a masterclass in scoring variety. He was hitting fadeaways, leaners, and tough contested layups.
Another misconception? That the Celtics "let" him do it.
Trust me, Brad Stevens does not "let" anyone score 70. The Celtics were annoyed. They were trying to stop him. They just couldn't.
Actionable Insights for Basketball Fans
If you're looking back at this game to understand its place in history, here is what you should take away:
1. Watch the fourth quarter highlights specifically. Don't just look at the total. Look at how the Suns manipulated the clock. It’s a fascinating study in "game theory" within a blowout. You’ll see exactly why the Celtics were so ticked off, but you’ll also see Booker’s conditioning—he played 45 minutes and never looked tired.
👉 See also: Real madrid partido hoy: Why the Blancos are the hardest team to predict right now
2. Compare the "Eras" of 70. Look at Booker’s 70 vs. Joel Embiid’s 70 or Luka’s 73. You’ll notice that today’s high-scoring games rely heavily on the three-point line and "heliocentric" offenses. Booker’s game was a bridge between the Kobe era of mid-range dominance and the modern era of high-volume efficiency.
3. Recognize the "Kobe" Influence. Booker wears Kobe's shoes and plays with that same "I don't care if I miss 20 shots" mentality. This game was the first time the world saw that he actually had the talent to back up that ego.
The Devin Booker 70 point game isn't just a stat line. It was a declaration of intent. It told the league that the Phoenix Suns were eventually going to be a problem, even if they were a joke at the time. Whether you think the intentional fouling was "cheap" or not, the history books don't have an asterisk for "bad sportsmanship." They just have the number 70.
Go back and watch the raw footage of the final three minutes. The tension between the Suns trying to get him the ball and the Celtics trying to end the game is one of the strangest things you'll ever see on an NBA court. It’s peak "young star" energy—unapologetic, slightly disrespectful, and absolutely legendary.
Check out the full play-by-play on official NBA archives or Basketball Reference to see the exact sequence of the 51-point second half.