TAKING COMMAND
Booker has Suns 2 wins from crown
MILWAUKEE – Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams is raising his boys to become men.
That’s not always easy.
“You have young boys that are my boys’ age, you know why sometimes animals eat their young,” said Williams before Thursday’s Game 2 win against the Milwaukee Bucks at Phoenix Suns Arena.
In being a father, Williams is showing them in these NBA Finals it’s more than OK to have fears.
“I just try to share with them as a man that it’s always — it’s OK to be nervous and it’s OK to be afraid,” Williams said. “I’ve talked to them about that, because I’ve gotten a reputation for looking like I’m calm on the sidelines, but if you check my armpits, you would think otherwise. So, I’ve talked to them about embracing that and it’s just part of it.”
Just part of Williams’ journey in the finals that includes not only sharing a once-in-a-lifetime moment with his family, but lessons for his sons who are growing into men.
“It’s been a good learning time for
them for me to just tell them the real deal about the emotions that go with pursuing a championship or trying to do something that is bigger than you,” he concluded.
Williams has gone from being fired in New Orleans after the 2014-15 season to being two wins away from winning his first NBA title.
“We trust him,” Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker said. “If he comes in the huddle, he’s developed relationships with each and everybody in the huddle. So, he can pretty much say anything. He can be brutally honest. He can let you know what’s going on, but he’s always supporting and he’s always uplifting. That’s just the type of guy he is, whether you’re in the huddle or you run into him in the hallway, it doesn’t turn off. That’s the type of character he has. So, that makes it a lot of fun to play for a man like that and those relationships, those personal relationships help him, I think, control the culture, control the environments that we’re in.”
Nowhere was that more apparent than when Williams, while wired for sound for ABC’s television broadcast, gave Deandre Ayton a spirited pep talk in which he said, “look at me,” to get the big’s attention. “He’s a special man,” said one of Williams’ main coaching mentors, San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich during a Zoom media interview for USA Basketball, as he’s coaching Team USA for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. “He’s obviously a fine basketball coach, but his ability to relate to players, to be genuine, be honest. No tricks, no smoke screens. Just straight up, caring, loving man, and it shows. It comes out and players react to it.”
Before looking ahead to Sunday’s Game 3, let’s dig into Thursday’s 118-108 Game 2 victory as all five starters reached double figures for the secondseeded Suns, who are two wins away from winning the franchise’s first NBA title.
Player of Game 2 win: Devin Booker
He needed to calm down.
Booker was too hyped to start Game 2 of the NBA Finals as reflected in missing eight of his first 10 shots from the field. Then he started cooking.
Like your grandmother two days before Christmas.
“Just slowed it down a bit,” Booker said. “Early in the game just amped, excited and shooting a few things long, rushing a few shots. So just getting back to fundamentals.”
That was the transition from Booker struggling to surging toward a 31-point night in which he hit 7-of-12 from 3 with one of the misses coming from 49 feet to end the 3rd quarter.
“Just coming up huge, especially in that fourth,” forward Mikal Bridges said. “I told him that after the game. Just timely shots. (The Bucks) come in, they’re making a little run, (and), every time Book hit a 3 or do something. You could just tell it just melted them down. ‘Like dang, we were right there.’ And I’m just like, I’m amazed, too.”
Scoring 21 points in the second half, Booker amazed the fans, too, in just doing his job.
“He’s our go-to player,” Suns forward
Jae Crowder said. “We know he can make plays for himself and for others..”
As a team, Phoenix cooked the thirdseeded Bucks for 20-of-40 shooting from 3 in setting a franchise record for most made 3-pointers in a playoff game. Bridges and All-Star point guard Chris Paul each hit a trio of 3s as Bridges cranked out a playoff careerhigh 27 points while Paul scored 23.
Monty Williams says the Suns have a “let it fly mentality” that fits right into today’s style of play, but not necessarily something he fully embraces in terms of taking an abundance of 3s.
“I don’t think you have a choice,” Williams said. “I’m no different than any other coach. You have to adapt to the trends and what allows your team to be successful. .”
Antetokounmpo aggressive, but not enough
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hyperextended left knee may not be 100%, but he put on a show in Game 2.
“I just tried to be aggressive,” he said. “Miss or make, got to be aggressive. Got to leave everything on the court. You know, just focusing on my body, my technique, everything I do.”
His stat line — 42 points (15-of-22 shooting), 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks — only tells half the story. He was just as impressive in communicating with his teammates. “His leadership, he’s always taking that on and growing there,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think he and Khris (Middleton) and (P.J. Tucker) in the timeouts, the group, there’s a ton of togetherness and it’s good.”
The rest of the Bucks shot just 27of-71 from the field with Khris Middleton going 5-of-16 for 11 points and Jrue Holiday making just 7-of-21 shots in his 17-point performance.
What to watch for in Game 3
The Suns lost Torrey Craig late in the third quarter with a right knee contusion and he is listed as day-to-day.
With Game 3 not until Sunday, Craig has an extra day to return, but if he can’t go, the Suns will likely turn to 7footer Frank Kaminsky III or go even smaller with Abdel Nader, as Dario Saric suffered an ACL tear in his right knee in Game 1.
Can Deandre Ayton stay clear of foul trouble so the Suns aren’t put in a major bind with their frontline? Ayton committed four fouls in Game 2 as did Crowder.
Holiday was more aggressive in Game 2 from Game 1, but he missed layups and very makeable shots while Khris Middleton has played 86 minutes in the finals and hasen’t attempted a free throw.
The Bucks still haven’t found an answer for Booker and Paul, but they did force the 16-year veteran into a seasonhigh six turnovers. Overall, the Bucks scored 16 points off 13 Phoenix turnovers. Milwaukee led the NBA in scoring in the regular season at 120.1 points a game. In the playoffs, the Bucks are at 109.5.
Against the Suns? Try 106.5.
If the Suns keep up that defense effort, they just may close out the Bucks in Milwaukee to win four straight closeout games on the road. It would seem fitting considering they had the NBA’s top road record in the regular season.