Jalen Green Reacts to Historic Suns Debut

The 23-year-old Green was a game-high plus-30 during his limited minutes on the floor.

"Overall, I really was just excited to get out there," Green said. "I was telling the guys and everything that 'I couldn't even sleep.' Usually I take a pregame nap, and I couldn't even get my nap in I was so excited.

"It was a lot of fun out there. Just got to keep stacking days."

Jalen Green - Devin Booker Backcourt Dynamic

Perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding how the Suns were going to find success this season was centered around the fit of Green and Devin Booker, both natural shooting guards, in the backcourt after Phoenix acquired Green from the Houston Rockets as part of the return for Kevin Durant this summer.

It was a pretty good first go-around, to say the least, with Booker finishing with 24 points on 10-of-22 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

“It was good, we got a little ball in training camp before the injury," Green said of sharing the court with Booker. "Off the court it's a great vibe, on the court it is even better. Really build off each other, talking the whole game, he's a veteran guard.

"He's been there before, done it before, so I'm learning everything I can from him, while just trying to help him win. It has been good.”

Booker, who had been doing a lot of heavy lifting for Phoenix with Green out, was happy to have his backcourt mate in action for the first time.

"It felt great. I think everybody felt great about it," Booker said of Green's debut. "It takes a lot of pressure off of everybody. Just a high level talent that, with opportunity and space, he can pretty much do everything. Seen a glimpse of it tonight, 29 points in (23) minutes.”

Suns' New Offense with Jalen Green

Ott said pregame that Green brings a level of athleticism and downhill driving ability that the Suns had not had before last night, and these two elements were on full display against the Clippers.

With Green back on the floor, the Suns' spacing and ball movement was much better, even though they had already found success at times in these areas in Ott's new system.

Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale have been the main beneficiaries of this style of play off passes from Booker, and now Green, and their 3-point shooting off good looks really helped the Suns explode with a 40-23 third quarter that put the game out of reach, as O'Neale went 5-for-10 from downtown on the night, while Allen was 4-for-9 from deep.

"Feel like our offense has a lot of spacing, and it allows us to get up a lot of threes and allows us to
play fast," Green said. "The two things that I love to do. I was watching the film, we broke it down, sitting with the coaches, breaking down film and stuff like that, and everything worked out. So got to keep going.”

All in all, Green was just happy to be back on the court in front of new fans after a long recovery process in which he re-aggravated his injury midway through the preseason which led to him missing the start of the year.

"I mean, it's frustrating obviously, but that's part of the mental game right there," Green said. "Just locking in with my coaches and understanding the game, talking to my teammates and learning a lot from them and what they're doing out there.

"Overall, it's a big shoutout to the training staff performance group. They held me down the whole time, they stuck with me, it was a tricky situation, like you said, I hurt it again. So really, just sticking with it and stacking days.”

The Suns are back in action Saturday night in a rematch against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

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