Monty Williams: Suns Didn't Have 'Normal Juice'
In this story:
Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams is typically good for a sound bite or two.
Williams' aura at the podium sometimes doesn't stray no matter if his team wins or loses. With the Suns setting a franchise record in wins with 64 last season and Phoenix jumping out of the gates to a 7-2 start, talks after a loss have been rare.
So when Williams spoke to reporters following the team's 100-88 loss to Philadelphia on Monday, it was only natural some frustration leaked.
"I think we could’ve put anybody out there tonight. We just didn’t have our normal juice. It was a bit of a toilet flusher to me. They had 15 offensive rebounds versus our six. We didn’t shoot a good clip. We didn’t generate any threes. We had 18 threes for the night. I just didn’t think we had anything close to what we would call average as far as energy, ball movement and 50-50 pursuit," Williams said.
"They were quicker to the ball. We can blame it on whatever we want to blame it on. It just felt like we were playing slower tonight for whatever reason. Those games happen. You just can’t allow that to happen again from an energy standpoint. We only scored 88 points. That’s hard to do in a NBA game, the way we played with pace. We had 15 turnovers for 19 points.
"So playing slow, turning it over and we put them on the free-throw line a ton. And that slowed the game down even more."
Their 88 points was 14 points lower than any scoring output they had all year, and you'd have to travel back to April of the 2020-21 season when Phoenix scored less points than that in a regular season game (99-86 loss to Boston).
Phoenix hopes to rebound on Wednesday for their second of four consecutive road games when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Let's hope they packed some spare juice.
Thank you for making Inside The Suns your destination for Phoenix Suns news. Please be sure to give us a like on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @InsideTheSunsFN for news, updates, analysis and more!
Top Phoenix Suns News
Suns Don't Shine in Loss to Philly
Chris Paul Exits 76ers Game Early With Injury
Suns' Torrey Craig Taking Advantage of Opportunities
Chris Paul Speaks on Importance of Voting, Election Day
