One of the most challenging tasks in sports is to pick yourself up off the mat after a devastating championship defeat. In a moment where you gave it your all, where the peak of your professional sphere was within grasp, you fell short. Any ensuing effort, by comparison, doesn’t feel worth the trouble anymore. Why try? Failure will be inevitable and only heartbreaking again. It’s here, in this mental space, where many runner-ups suffer letdowns or hangovers. They’re not as stellar, not as hungry, not as healthy, or all three, and they don’t meet expectations. They don’t even come close to the bar.
That is decidedly not a problem for this year’s Suns.
We’re nearing the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, a natural break in the action, and the Suns are an astonishing 41-10. They’ve won 11 of their last 12 games in the approximate last month, including victories over other heavyweights like the Jazz (twice) and Nets. This sort of dominance, of course, comes after they lost one of the more exciting but exhaustive NBA Finals in recent memory to the Bucks last June.
How did they do it? How did they not let past failure dictate their present, the way any excellent self-help book tells you to avoid such a prospect?
In four words: Head coach Monty Williams.
13-1 in January.
Congrats Coach Monty on your second Coach of the Month honor this season! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/Q7ESTSZOtc
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 2, 2022
In his fourth season at the helm in Phoenix, the 50-year-old Williams continues to push all the right buttons. Usually, two Coach of the Month honors in a season that is only three months old would be enough to demonstrate his uncanny ability to push his team. But you can’t help but be impressed that this rampage comes after such a Finals defeat. The easy decision for Williams and the Suns would have been to pack it in, to let last year be their defining moment. But they didn’t. He didn’t let them.
The Suns may have a loaded roster featuring Devin Booker (a 2022 All-Star), Chris Paul (also a 2022 All-Star), and DeAndre Ayton, among others, along with a deep bench led by Cameron Johnson and Bismack Biyombo. Yet it takes a unique, honed-in leader to maximize and develop such a group. Williams is one of those rare leaders. At this moment, Tipico Sportsbook has Williams at -130 to win his first-ever NBA Coach of the Year award. Those odds feel exceptionally safe in his hands.
Try and say this isn’t a guy beloved by his players. You’d be a heinous liar.
Monty Williams congratulates Devin Booker on making his 3rd #NBAAllStar
CC: @suns #ValleyProud pic.twitter.com/N8w06Lxpq7
— NBA (@NBA) February 4, 2022
Of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t detail what the Suns did well amongst their peers. Where, oh where, to start:
- Third in offensive efficiency, second in defensive efficiency
- Third in scoring (113 points per game), seventh in defensive points allowed (102.5 per game)
- First in team shooting (47.8 percent), third in opponent shooting percentage (44 percent)
- Fourth in team three-point shooting (36.6 percent), fourth in opponent three-point shooting (33.3)
- Fifth in assists (26.4 per game)
- Sixth in steals (8.6 per game)
The Suns will again be a favorite to win the Western Conference and get Chris Paul his first championship. Tipico currently has Phoenix as (+260, second only to the Warriors) to win the West and (+550, third-best overall) to win the NBA title. They are the Red Giant ready to swallow up the NBA’s solar system once it expands its girth.
More than ever, it’s evident Williams has his Suns prepared to avenge their Finals defeat and nab the golden crown they believe they deserve. Stand in their way, and you might get burned.
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