Suns Coach Monty Williams: We Lacked Focus in Game 6 Loss
This wasn't supposed to happen.
The stars had aligned for the Phoenix Suns to finally rid themselves of the Dallas Mavericks in a Game 6 road test, with a win punching their ticket to the Western Conference Finals while sending Luka Doncic and friends home for the season.
A strong outing in Phoenix for Game 5 gave all the right signs that the Suns indeed returned to form.
Yet Thursday night's 113-86 loss to the Mavericks was humbling in almost every way. Dallas thoroughly outplayed the Suns in nearly all facets, and Suns head coach Monty Williams acknowledged that following the game.
“I don’t think we understood the desperation they were going to play with,” Williams said. “Couple that with the turnovers we had tonight, and it’s a recipe for what we just got.”
After a poor performance shooting from behind the arc in Game 5, the Mavericks bounced back by converting 16-of-39 (41%) from three-point land. On the defensive side of the ball, Dallas scored 29 points off 22 turnovers.
“I don’t think we played well on offense. We’re going after matchups right now instead of running our offense. I think we can get the matchups that we want when we run our stuff," said Williams.
The duo of Chris Paul and Devin Booker was responsible for 13 of those turnovers, as off-nights from both guards spelled trouble from the beginning.
"We were about as unorganized on offense as we’ve ever been. That’s one of the reasons why we threw it around the gym tonight. We just did not have the focus and determination that it takes to win a game like this on the road.”
Booker, after scoring eight points in the first quarter, was held without a field goal until just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Booker's struggles to maintain superhero status wasn't the only problem, as the Suns failed to match the intensity Dallas brought from the opening tip. Phoenix's 86 points was well below their average of 109.1 points per game during the playoffs and marked their lowest-scoring total of the entire season.
“They played harder than us and we typically don’t allow that,” Williams said. “We understand that we turned it over and we did not have a focus. Our concepts in our defensive coverages tonight was nowhere near average.”
The Suns will have just one more opportunity to right their wrongs against the Mavericks in Sunday's Game 7 at home.
