Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker had little time to mourn his NBA Finals loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Booker soon had to get on a private plane with two players who just beat him, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, to fly across the Pacific Ocean to Tokyo for the Olympics, where they would be Team USA teammates.
Booker spoke to the media right after losing Game 6, but he didn't speak again until Wednesday in Tokyo. There, the Suns star addressed the Finals loss and being teammates with Holiday and Middleton after engaging in such a hard-fought championship series against them.
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Via The Athletic's Joe Vardon:
“I’m a forward thinker and able to move onto the next thing, and be able to take my ‘L’ and move on,” Booker said Wednesday, in his first comments since the night his Phoenix Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, eight days ago.
“The memories are there, but it’s nothing personal between us,” Booker said. “We lost and that’s it, and I’m man enough to accept that and move on. There’s no hate towards Jrue or K Mid.”
Devin Booker is keeping it totally professional, and there's really no reason not to do that. Sure, Holiday and Middleton's Bucks just beat his Suns in the NBA Finals, but it's not like there was a whole lot of bad blood there. It was just a competitive series that Milwaukee ended up winning because it had the best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo.
These three players now have to focus on winning gold for Team USA. Holiday showed great spirit against France by trying to will them to victory in the fourth quarter. While his efforts were for naught against France, Holiday got the start alongside Booker against Iran in a 120-66 win.