MVP? Dominant Devin Booker scores 49 points in Phoenix's 60th win of the season

By Jack Bantock, CNN

Updated 1123 GMT (1923 HKT) March 25, 2022

Devin Booker lets out a primal roar after he grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback, while drawing a foul against the Denver Nuggets.

(CNN)It would be difficult to name a better love story than Devin Booker and March 24.

Five years on from his historic 70-point demolition job against the Boston Celtics, Booker surged to a season-high 49 points against the Denver Nuggets to help secure the Phoenix Suns' 60th win of the season on Thursday.A hard-fought 140-130 road victory saw the Suns wrap up their seventh straight win and the top spot in the West for the playoffs. Their .811 winning percentage is comfortably the NBA's highest, with the Memphis Grizzlies closest at .689. Averaging 26 points per game, Booker has led scoring for the league's best performing team, but went up another level in Denver, adding four rebounds, 10 assists and three steals in a dominant performance.The 25-year-old went 16-for-25 from the field and made 15 of his 17 free throws, becoming the fourth youngest player in history to score 11,000 points. Booker shoots as center Deandre Ayton, front, and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic watch on.Read MoreBooker for MVP?Achievement of the scoring milestone puts Booker in the company of NBA royalty alongside LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant, doing little to quell calls for Booker to be named MVP.Two steals in the space of a minute late in the third quarter — including one on the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic — epitomized Booker's all-around virtuoso display, with both followed up with buckets.Jokic led scoring for the Nuggets with 28, while Mikal Bridges and Chris Paul starred for the Suns with 22 and 17 respectively. Paul, back in the team