DeAndre Ayton was elated to snap the Phoenix Suns' 17-game skid with a 124-121 win over the Miami Heat, evoking the words of “Reverend” Devin Booker after the Suns earned their 12th win of the 2018-19 regular season.

“Halle-f***ing-llujah,” said Ayton after the win, later adding. “That was a good game, everyone showed great energy tonight. We had fun. Book just kept on emphasizing playing the right way continuously, he was preaching — Reverend Book over there was really preaching and he got us amped up. That type of stuff is really, really contagious and we see other guys playing for him and for each other.”

Booker has been preaching throughout this past month-and-change, hoping his teammates would take notice and help him snap this deflating losing skid, finally getting the proverbial monkey off their back after a win over the Heat.

The Suns have struggled without a secondary featured scorer in T.J. Warren, as well as dealing with the integration of Tyler Johnson, who has put two strong games together — scoring 16 after dropping a season-high 29 points last week.

Ayton himself put up a decent 14 points and 10 rebounds, now having scored in double figures for 14 straight games.

Sadly enough, this would be Booker's fourth straight losing season, finding his Suns at the bottom of the Western Conference standings once again, despite putting together his most well-rounded season yet, tasked with taking on the playmaking for the vast majority of this 2018-19 campaign.

His 20 points and nine assists reflect that willingness, now averaging 6.7 assists per game to go with his 24.6 points-per-game average.