Devin Booker called his own game-winner vs Knicks: ‘I knew they were gonna double’

Devin Booker got off the ball.

It was the game plan for the Knicks the entire night against a depleted Phoenix Suns team without three starters, most notably the unguardable Kevin Durant and the oft-injured Bradley Beal.

The Knicks made Booker more facilitator than scorer, doubling on the dribble all night long.

On the night’s final possession with the game tied at 113, they did it again. Booker, an all-world offensive mind, saw it coming.

“I knew they were gonna double,” Booker said after the game. “They were doing it most of the game.”

Booker called it in the huddle with less than 22 seconds left in regulation.

He knew the Knicks were going to send the help on his first dribble.

“[I said I was going to], look away, then bring it back to me,” he recalled. “It was a shot I’ve imagined in my head multiple times. I feel like I’ve been there before.”

Booker also knew if he went to the rim, there was a 90 percent chance that even if he drew contact, he wasn’t going to get the call.

Not on the road. Especially not at The Garden.

And he knew if he got to his spot, the same spot Jimmy Butler missed from two nights earlier, he was going to be cash money. For that reason, he didn’t want to let his teammates play four-on-three after the Knicks sent the double.

He wanted the shot himself. He called it the right basketball play.

Indeed, it was.

Things went according to Booker’s grand plan.

With RJ Barrett guarding him, Booker watched the game clock wind down from 21.9 second to just under 10. On his first dribble, Immanuel Quickley brought the help, just as the Suns’ star expected.

Booker passed the ball to his teammate Jordan Goodwin, who was near half court, then looked away from the play — as he said he would — before darting in Goodwin’s direction.

Booker got the ball back in motion, this time with Julius Randle in front of him.

Booker elevated, fading into the sidelines Randle contested, and Quickley’s contest was outside of Booker’s view. Randle appeared confused at the thought that he could have defended the shot any better.

“What? I was right there,” he said. “He just made a great shot. Fading out of bounds. Three-pointer over two people. You got to tap him on the butt and say great shot.”

“[We] got the ball out of his hands. He chased it and got it back. It was challenged pretty good. Tough shot,” added Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “[Julius] was there pretty good. It was a fadeaway out of bounds. I thought they defended it pretty well.”

Booker finished with 28 points, none more important than the three that lifted his Suns to victory. He had family in town and close friends in attendance to watch his game-winning heroics.

“It’s an experience,” he said of hitting a game-winner at The Garden. “I missed MSG last year. I was at the crib, hurting thinking about it. We came in here on a streak. Continued the streak.”

Booker’s go-ahead shot left just under two seconds on the game clock, and Jalen Brunson tried his luck at a 30-footer that left his hands in time but rimmed-out.

“They beat us to the punch,” Brunson said postgame. “For us, on our team, that can’t happen, so we gotta be better.”

Brunson finished with a game-high 35 points, and Randle added 28, with 17 points coming in the third quarter alone. The Knicks also got help from Quickley, who has hit a scoring groove off the bench with 18 points against the Suns on Sunday.

Booker had the last laugh. The Knicks came back from down 21 to beat the Heat two days earlier, then attempted a 15-point comeback two nights later.

Butler’s miss cemented the Knicks’ comeback on Friday. Booker’s shot did the opposite.

“He made a great shot,” Randle said. “Ain’t really much you can do about it.”