Category: Phoenix Suns Blog

Suns blog – Phoenix Suns blog, on Suns basketball news, rumors and more

Suns coach Monty Williams wins 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year award

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams is the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA announced today.

This is the first NBA Coach of the Year Award for Williams, who joins Cotton Fitzsimmons (1988-89) and Mike D’Antoni (2004-05) as head coaches to earn the honor with the Suns.

Williams received 458 points (81 first-place votes) from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins finished in second place with 270 points (17 first-place votes). Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra finished in third place with 72 points (one first-place vote). Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote

Williams guided the Suns to an NBA-leading 64-18 record in the regular season, the most victories and the highest winning percentage (.780) in a season in franchise history. Phoenix had identical 32-9 records at home and on the road. The Suns tied for the third-most road wins and fifth-best road winning percentage (.780) in a season in NBA history.

Phoenix won a franchise-record 18 consecutive games from Oct. 30 – Dec. 2, 2021. The streak included a 16-0 record in November, tied for the second-most wins in a month without a loss in NBA history, trailing only the Atlanta Hawks’ 17-0 record in January 2015.

The Suns finished first in the NBA in net rating (+7.5), third in defensive rating (106.8) and fifth in offensive rating (114.2), making them the only team to rank in the top five in all three categories. They were 47-0 when leading after the third quarter, the most such wins without a loss in a season in the shot clock era (which began in the 1954-55 season).

Williams was named the NBA Western Conference Coach of the Month twice (October/November and January). He and his staff also earned the spot to coach Team LeBron in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

This is Williams’ third season as the Suns’ head coach. Last season, he guided Phoenix to a 51-21 record and its first appearance in the NBA Finals since the 1992-93 season, finishing in second place in the voting for the 2020-21 NBA Coach of the Year Award. Williams previously served as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans for five seasons.

Williams will be presented with a special edition 75th Anniversary commemorative trophy today in celebration of winning the 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year Award, gifted in addition to the Red Auerbach Trophy, which he will receive later. The commemorative trophy, composed of a solid crystal basketball, features the NBA 75 logo 3D laser etched and suspended within its center.

The NBA Coach of the Year Award trophy is named in honor of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Red Auerbach. The legendary head coach guided the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships, including eight in a row from 1958-59 – 1965-66.

Pelicans forward Jaxson Hayes ejected from Game 3 vs. Suns

Jaxson Hayes of the New Orleans Pelicans was ejected from Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs on Friday night in the second quarter after receiving a flagrant foul 2 for shoving Phoenix Suns player Jae Crowder.

Hayes was pounding the boards from the left corner after a made CJ McCollum jumper with 5:15 remaining in the first half when he crashed past Crowder, slamming him to the ground.

Initially, no foul was called, but play was paused and the play was reviewed as Crowder rushed across the floor to confront Hayes and Suns guard Chris Paul quickly sprinted to another official.

– Via ESPN.com. See full article.

Suns guard Devin Booker hurts hamstring in Game 2 loss to Pelicans

The Suns lost a playoff game last night, and have a Devin Booker injury to worry about. Via ESPN.com:

On Tuesday night, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker suffered a hamstring injury, and the New Orleans Pelicans stepped up all night and put had a tremendous finish to win 125-114 Game 2 and even the series at 1-1.

Booker scored 31 points in the first half, including seven 3-pointers. But he did not score in the third quarter, and he injured his right hamstring when contesting a Jaxson Hayes dunk in transition with 4:45 left in the period. He exited the game and headed straight to the locker room.

Multiple key Suns players will be out tonight against Clippers

The Phoenix Suns are resting some key players tonight. Via the Arizona Republic:

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams sounded as if he wasn’t completely in favor of resting players despite having the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs and franchise record for wins in a single season locked up.

“The resting thing is that, I’m not quite sure if there is a huge benefit, because of the position we’re in with the play-in-tournament,” Williams said after Tuesday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Phoenix. “You get almost a week off and so, at some point, there’s going to be some deconditioning for the top seeds. So, I don’t think there’s a necessary benefit for resting guys right now.”

However, Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, Jae Crowder and Chris Paul are ruled out of Wednesday’s game at the Clippers (39-40) in the second of a back-to-back for the Suns (63-16).

The Suns have already wrapped up the league’s best record this season and will have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

Phoenix Suns through 73 games are having their best season in franchise history

PHOENIX SUNS NOTES

The Suns stand at a league-best 58-14 on the season, 9 games ahead of MEM for the best record in the NBA, and the team’s best start through 73 games of a season in franchise history.

The Suns won the Pacific Division title for the second-straight season and the 8th time in franchise history.

Phoenix has scored 125+ points in six-straight games entering tonight, a franchise record and the longest such streak in the league this season (would be 1st team with seven-straight such games since the 1988-89 Nuggets, who did so in seven-straight games).

With his 23rd point last night, Devin Booker became the fourth-yongest player in NBA history to 11,000 career points (25 years, 144 days), trailing only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.

The Suns hold a .829 (29-6) win percentage in road games this season, better than every team’s home win percentage.

DEVIN BOOKER totaled 28 points on 7-of-15 shooting in the Suns’ win at Minnesota last night, to go along with 7 assists and 3 rebounds. Booker attempted a season-high 16 free throws, knocking down 13 of them, which matched a season high (has now done so three times). Over the last eight games, Booker is averaging 28.1 points on 53.6 FG%, 6.6 assists and 4.5 rebounds.

ON THIS DAY IN SUNS HISTORY: On this day five years ago (March 24, 2017), DEVIN BOOKER scored a career and franchise record 70 points at Boston. Booker shot 52.5 FG% (21-of-40) in the game and added 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Booker became the sixth player in NBA history to score 70+ points in a game, joining Wilt Chamberlin (six times), Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, David Thompson and Elgin Baylor, and was the youngest to do so at 20 years, 145 days.

DEANDRE AYTON scored a game and career-high 35 points last night on 15-of-24 shooting and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Ayton scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and 19 in the second half, both of which marked personal season highs for fourthquarter and second-half scoring. The game marked Ayton’s 26th double-double of the season, his fourth-straight and seventh in the last nine games. Additionally, the game was Ayton’s second-career game with 30+ points and 10+ rebounds (33 points, 14 rebounds on Dec. 29, 2018 vs. DEN). Improving his career field goal percentage to 60.1 FG% over the last couple of games, Ayton joins Mark West and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in francbhise history with a career FG% above 60.0 (min. 500 field goal makes) while in a Suns jersey.

MIKAL BRIDGES totaled 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 6 rebounds and 3 steals last night in Minnesota. The game marked Bridges’ 13th-straight game scoring in double figures, his longest streak with 10+ points this season (previous was 12-straight spanning Jan. 28-Feb. 24).

First-place Suns fall to Jazz

The Phoenix Suns are having a great season, but their current task is to learn to keep the winning going without injured point guard Chris Paul. Here’s Arizona Sports on Sunday’s Suns loss to the Jazz:

Time to dial those expectations back a bit if you were expecting smooth sailing for the Phoenix Suns without Chris Paul (and, for the meantime, Cam Payne).

Even in a game on Sunday afternoon where they played fairly well against a very good Utah Jazz team, it just wasn’t enough, and that “enough” is a much higher bar in this situation. That brought on a 118-114 loss to Utah.

To rinse and repeat the theme from Friday, the wiggle room for a Paul-less Suns to come out with wins is cut off dramatically. The Suns can still execute to that level, and this is not to say the expectation should be .500 ball until Paul’s back, but there’s an obvious adjustment period they’re going through that we’re seeing.

Phoenix shot 51.2% from the field and 46.4% at 3-point range. But the Jazz decisively won the battles in second-chance (27-14) and bench points (43-11), putting the Suns back in an uphill journey despite the great shooting numbers.

The Suns still have a nice six-game lead on the Warriors in the West. And the Warriors are a few games up on the Grizzlies, who are three games up on the Jazz.

Suns guard Chris Paul injured, out at least 6-8 weeks

The Phoenix Suns are having the best season of any team in the league, but a big hit of bad news came out today. Via the Arizona Republic:

Chris Paul’s right thumb is going to keep him out most of the remaining season.

The Suns gave an official release that Paul has suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture in Wednesdays’ game against Houston and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks.

The NBA regular season ends April 10 against Sacramento.

The Suns are 48-10, placing them a full 6.5 games ahead of the 42-17 Warriors in both the Western conference and overall league standings.

Paul this season is averaging 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 10.7 assists (best in the league) and 1.9 steals (tied for 4th best in the league) per game.

Wizards trade Aaron Holiday to Suns

The Washington Wizards have acquired cash considerations in a trade with the Phoenix Suns for guard Aaron Holiday. The trade also generated a trade exception for the Wizards.

Holiday (6-0, 185), has appeared in 41 games (14 starts) for Washington this season, averaging 6.1 points, 1.9 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game. He holds career averages of 7.4 points, 2.3 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 223 games (55 starts) over four NBA seasons with Indiana and Washington. Holiday was originally acquired by the Wizards in a five-team trade with Indiana, Los Angeles, Brooklyn and San Antonio on August 6, 2021.

Suns coach Monty Williams will coach Team LeBron in 2022 NBA All-Star Game

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams and his staff will coach Team LeBron in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 20 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The 71st NBA All-Star Game will air live at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and ESPN Radio in the United States.

Phoenix (40-9, .816) defeated the San Antonio Spurs 115-110 tonight to clinch the best record in the Western Conference through games played on Sunday, Feb. 6. As a result, Williams has earned a spot as a head coach in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time. He will be the Suns’ first NBA All-Star Game head coach since Mike D’Antoni in the 2006-07 season.

Under Williams, the Suns have the best record in the NBA this season and are off to their best start in franchise history through the first 49 games of a season. Phoenix won a franchise-record 18 consecutive games from Oct. 30 – Dec. 2 and has a current 10-game winning streak. Williams was named the NBA Western Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October/November.

Williams is in his third season as Phoenix’s head coach. Last season, he guided the Suns to a 51-21 record and their first appearance in the NBA Finals since the 1992-93 season. Williams previously served as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans for five seasons.

Each head coach in the NBA All-Star Game will lead the team that includes the captain from the same conference. Williams will coach the All-Star team captained by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James.

The eligible head coach of the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference through games played on Feb. 6 will coach the All-Star team captained by Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant. Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers is ineligible because he served as a head coach in the NBA All-Star Game last season.