Devin Booker remains out with hamstring injury as Suns face Celtics

All-Star Devin Booker will miss a fourth straight game with a left hamstring strain as the Suns face the Celtics (13-13) Friday at Footprint Center

"He's progressing day by day, but he hasn't done anything on the floor, not even shooting," Suns coach Monty Williams said. "He's still in that healing mode right now. We'll see how he feels going forward, but it's a day-to-day healing process."

The Suns (20-4) are 2-1 without Booker. They haven't played since Monday's 108-104 home win over San Antonio.

"We're missing a lot of points out there," said Suns guard Elfrid Payton, as Booker leads the Suns in scoring at 23.2 points a game. "A lot of points, so just finding different ways to get those points. Touching the paint, kicking it out. Kicking the ball ahead, trying to pick our pace up. Just trying to find different ways to account for those baskets."

Phoenix took Tuesday and Wednesday off before returning to practice Thursday.

"I thought the guys were energized," Williams said about Thursday's practice. "Probably the first time in my coaching career where I'm giving two days off, but I felt like we needed it."

The Suns played 16 games in the 30-day month of November.

"Felt like the guys needed to get away. I feel like the coaches needed to get away from me and they came in pretty juiced today. Our guys have played a lot of basketball, especially our group that has been here for three years. It's been a lot of basketball. Sometimes, I think you need to fill your cup and get away. They talked about missing each other. Just being away for two days. So that was pretty cool."

Chris Paul said he took to the golf course during that off time.

It's been a while.

"That's the first time I've swung a golf club in a year," said Paul, who had wrist surgery after the NBA finals.

It showed on the course.

"It needs a lot of work," Paul said with a smile about his golf game.

Paul also said Suns wing Mikal Bridges came by his house Wednesday, another sign of how strong the team unity is.

"We always talk about it," Paul said. "We're together more than we are with our own families."

Closeness aside, the Suns still are without Abdel Nader (right knee injury management) and Frank Kaminsky (right knee stress reaction). Nader has missed 10 straight games while Kaminsky has been sidelined for Phoenix's last eight.

After Friday's game, Phoenix will have a three-game stretch in four days with the first two in a road back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers.

The Suns play the Clippers on Monday in their first meeting since last year's conference finals, which Phoenix won in six games.

They then face the Blazers the next night in Portland, where they lost by 29 points back in October. The Suns will return home to play the Wizards on Dec. 16.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Devin Booker (hamstring) remains out as Suns face Celtics