Phoenix Suns notebook: Rare 2 days off; Booker update; pace bump

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are not one to issue many off days, let alone two in a row. Head coach Monty Williams on Thursday said that the two previous consecutive days without practice were likely a first for his coaching career.

The Suns were rather reserved about their 18-game winning streak and two matchups with the Golden State Warriors the week prior, treating both as if they weren’t the big deals that were grabbing national headlines, but Williams said after Monday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs that it was an emotional week.

Williams is often one to analyze his team’s improvement on a month-to-month sample size. But even with Phoenix at 20-4 and seeing lots of positive results lately, the coach said the break had nothing to do with that.

“I just felt like we needed to get away,” Williams said. “You could see it on our guys and I’ve seen it on other teams where guys who’ve had a schedule like us where you’ve played every other day for a minute with a few back-to-backs, some travel — sometimes, hopefully, just getting away from the gym for a couple of days keeps it fresh.”

Anyone who knows this team will not be surprised to hear that the players still weren’t spending that time actually away from each other. Williams said the players came in saying how they missed each other and point guard Chris Paul said they were still hanging out.

BOOKER UPDATE

The stretch of two games at home in nine days is fortunate timing with Devin Booker (left hamstring strain) and Abdel Nader (right knee injury management) both out, a designation they both hold for Friday’s meeting with the Boston Celtics. Williams had no updates on either of them outside of Booker not doing any work on the court yet, which suggests a decent likelihood that he misses a few more games.

The initial read on breaking down the impact of Booker’s absence is obviously points, where he leads the Suns in scoring at 23.2 points per game.

But Phoenix actually misses him the most as the heartbeat of the offense’s flow. The Suns’ assists in three games without Booker are 23, 23 and 27 while three-point attempts check in at 21, 22 and 29.

The Suns average 26.1 assists and 30.5 three-point attempts per game, two solid barometers to monitor in the box score for how the Suns’ offense is moving. That production is tougher to make happen as Booker recovers and there could be offensive struggles along the way.

PLAYING WITH PACE

Williams said he was blown away when seeing the Suns’ number in pace of 100.98, which ranks fourth in the NBA after a placement of 24th at 98.00 last season.

Phoenix has a roster and offensive system that benefits from pushing the tempo but teams with Paul have always been among the slowest each season. Paul said last postseason that then-assistant coach Willie Green told Paul he wanted him to get the ball across halfcourt with only a few ticks off the shot clock so the offense could start sooner.

Williams did not sound like a coach who had placed any more emphasis on speed this year compared to last and that it’s not a number they look at much anyway.

“I do think it takes advantage of the guys we have,” he said. “Having Landry (Shamet), Cam Payne, Cam Johnson, Mikal (Bridges), those guys are hit-ahead, pace players. I think it’s a good thing for us and maybe it gives us another layer to our offense.”

Williams speculated it could be because of continuity and Paul agreed.

To Williams’ observation, the Suns’ perimeter players outside of the primary initiators like Paul and Booker have the ball skills to either grab-and-go with a rebound or glide up the court after an outlet pass.

Bridges and Johnson are system players under Williams at this point, so they’ve got it down.

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