Monty Williams optimistic Suns can regain defensive form

PHOENIX — It doesn’t take much research to understand why the Phoenix Suns have fallen off after a 7-4 start to the season.

Their pass-heavy offense was complemented by a top-12 defense by that point in time. But since mid-November, the Suns have consistently produced a bottom-five defense.

Phoenix will come off a Christmas mini-break riding a seven-game skid and heading out for a four-game West Coast trip. Sounds bad, doesn’t it?

Monty Williams finds optimism despite where his Suns sit. In the standings, that’s 11th place in the Western Conference as of Thursday afternoon. As guard Devin Booker put it, the head coach’s “culture and agenda” haven’t changed despite the downturn in results.

“This is going to sound boring but it’s just my faith,” Williams said of staying so level during such a challenging stretch. “When I read my Bible, it always centers me back to what’s important, and what’s important is people.

“Our guys — name another team that plays as hard as we do every night. It’s hard for me to argue with that.”

Asked what especially the Suns are focused on cleaning up on the defensive side of the ball, Williams said: “Everything. Transition defense, getting back, stopping the ball, communicating.”

While he can coach those things up — Williams said he’s seeing improvements — he can’t exactly move Ricky Rubio’s legs for him or improve Aron Baynes’s vertical. The Suns have been battered in one-on-one matchups of late.

Two games back, it was James Harden and Russell Westbrook scoring 77 combined points against the Suns. In Phoenix’s last game, a 113-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray combined for 50, including Murray’s go-ahead jumper to win it.

That wasn’t his only ridiculous one-on-one win of the night.

“They didn’t beat us with normal pick-and-roll schemes,” Williams said. “Jokic and Murray made tough shots, just like Harden.

“That’s not an excuse for us. Our defense is going to improve as we get healthy … Once we get D.A. (Deandre Ayton) back, we’ll have one more big at the rim that can rim-protect, and I think it’s going to help our wings defend even better.”

Ayton remains day-to-day with an ankle sprain suffered Dec. 17, and it doesn’t sound like he’s especially close to returning.

The second-year center did a little more on Thursday by shooting and “bouncing around,” Williams said, but his ankle remains sore.

“That’s not something you want to linger for the rest of the year,” the head coach added.

Reviewing the tape can explain why his return could prove pivotal on getting the Suns back on the right track.

On Monday, Phoenix more often than not had its guards chase Murray over screens only to recover back into the Denver screener once Murray was handed off to a Suns big man. But the Nuggets star was still able to hit tough mid-range jumpers over the size of players like Baynes.

While Baynes and Rubio can be on point on pick-and-roll coverages that call for so much communication and trust, there’s something to be said for what Ayton’s athleticism can bring when he is able to return.

Even with the players at hand, the list of players rotating through the team’s official injury reports over the last several weeks hasn’t helped matters. As Phoenix prepares to face the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, the team feels that most of those health issues appear to be in the rearview mirror.

“I think we implemented some things defensively that worked for us,” Booker said of the positive signs from the Denver game. “Just a few possessions I think decided that game.

“I think we’re finally — everyone’s getting healthy so we can see what our team really looks like.”

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