After losing a third game in a row only to drop to 8-8 in the season, a frustrated Chris Paul said bluntly about the current state of the Phoenix Suns: They need to play better.
‘We’re not …’ Paul began, pausing for a moment, ‘we’re playing well enough now. I’m not going to say we’re not good enough, but we’re not playing well enough now. ‘
The Suns fell 102-97 at home on Wednesday to Paul’s former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the last three minutes going the wrong way for Phoenix. The Thunder ended on an 11-2 run, with the Suns missing their last six shots.
Paul, who led the Thunder to a surprise 5 seeds last season behind brilliant pair time play, scored 32 points in 35 minutes against OKC. But two tight looks in the last 20 seconds didn’t fall, the first was an ongoing midrange turnaround that spun off the rim, and the second a potential equalizing 3 that caught all the air.
The Suns have been without All-Star guard Devin Booker for the past two games due to a painful hamstring. Although the team has missed its scoring ability, coach Monty Williams refused to acknowledge that, or anything else, as an excuse.
“Until this team understands consistency for four quarters, we will often feel this way,” said Williams. ‘We can try to make everyone feel sorry for us. It’s not going to work. We have to be consistent. This is up to us. ‘
Williams, clearly exacerbated in his availability two minutes after the game, responded to Suns’ need for consistency.
“We had an incredibly bad finish on the way,” he said. “We have open shots, missing shots under the basket. It’s just bad. Bad execution and bad finish. That’s all.
“At some point, all you have to do is finish matches and understand what it takes to be a really good team is consistency,” said Williams. ‘Point. That’s the deal. ‘
Williams said if he were asked a question from then on, he would answer the same way: consistency.
“Whatever you ask me, I’m going to say ‘consistency,'” Williams said. “That is it.”
The Suns were ahead by 15 at the end of the first quarter. But with sloppy sales and stagnant attack, they only scored 10 points in the second quarter, leading to OKC’s 21-4 run to take the lead on the way to halftime.
As Paul tends to do, he settled into the game calmly, delayed early, but asserted himself. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to give the Suns a late lead, but defensive failures and poor offensive possessions led to Phoenix collapse.
“We play in fits,” said Paul. ‘We have to respect who we play against. Every night. Respect the opponent. They are paid just like us. ‘
For Paul and the Suns, a promising start to the season has ended in the past three weeks. The addition of Paul seemed to help maintain the momentum they had built up from their unbeaten bubble run, but a disruption to their season with a three-game break from health and safety protocols and then Booker’s injury brought it to a halt.
The Suns have lost five of their past six games, with virtually all recent losses having been close call – back-to-back overtime matches against the Denver Nuggets are not going their way, a four-point loss against the Memphis Grizzlies and a five-point loss for OKC.
“I’m just trying to figure out how we can win,” said Paul. “Because the lost stuff is getting old.”