Monty Williams says Suns’ loss to T-Wolves is ‘squarely on me’
Mar 18, 2021, 10:31 PM | Updated: 10:58 pm
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns dropped a tough one to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.
After being up as much as 15 in the third quarter, the Suns fell to the T-Wolves, 123-119.
Minnesota entered the game with the NBA’s worst record of 9-31 and was only team left in the league that had yet to reach the double-digit mark in the win column.
“Just losing a game like that — I just think the turnovers to start the game, our gameplan discipline was not where it needed to be,” head coach Monty Williams said via Zoom postgame. “But all of that is on me. I did not have our guys ready to play tonight mentally, schematically, in every area. I did not have us ready to play. That’s squarely on me.”
“All the things that we should be focused on in practice — just didn’t do it at a high level tonight and again, that’s me. Your team should come into the game prepared to play,” Williams added. “Our game plan discipline was not at a high level on defense and we were sloppy on offense.
“When a team comes into your home gym and scores 123 points and two guys go for 83 points, that’s a lack of being ready. The only person I can look at is myself. When I look at the stat sheet and I’m just thinking about what happened tonight, that’s on me.”
A large factor in the loss was the aforementioned 83 combined points from Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns (41) and Anthony Edwards (42), the first time in franchise history that Phoenix has allowed a pair of opposing teammates to score 40-plus apiece.
“When two guys can go for 83 points, I did not make the adjustments against those guys to give us a chance to be our best,” Williams said. “But it boils down to not having our team ready to play and that’s squarely on me.”
However, Suns wing Mikal Bridges disagreed with his head coach’s assessment of the loss and shifted the blame toward himself and his teammates.
“No, he definitely got us ready. It’s on us. We didn’t come out and respect our opponent enough,” Bridges said via Zoom postgame. “Obviously they’re a good team and they’re in the NBA — they have good players. That’s not on him. That’s on us as players.”
The Suns will get a chance to rebound from the loss on Friday night, as Phoenix hosts Minnesota once again.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Catch all the action on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
