Suns’ Monty Williams drives through snow to catch game after canceled flight

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams returned from the All-Star break in a unique way, and not in one that sounds much fun.

Williams said prior to Thursday’s game in Oklahoma City against the Thunder that he had to drive from Texas to Oklahoma because of a canceled flight due to winter storms.

That forced him on Wednesday to take what is roughly a seven-hour drive from Houston to Oklahoma City through some ice in Houston and a whole lot of snow throughout Oklahoma. He didn’t get in until 11 p.m.

“Thankfully I got here late last night safe,” Williams said with a chuckle. “It’s just part of life.”

“You do what you have to do to get back,” he added. “Can’t control the weather, flights and stuff like that. It wasn’t that big of a deal. People deal with it all the time.”

During that ordeal on Wednesday, the Suns practiced in Oklahoma City without Williams.

“They had a spirited practice,” Williams said of a session that allowed the Suns to get some rare 5-on-5 run in. “Our leadership is so good on the team (that) guys didn’t miss a beat.”

The head coach has a place in the Texas area that is his home away from home where he likes to fish and be away from everything. He got some time there after participating in All-Star weekend as the head coach of Team LeBron in the All-Star Game.

“Had a chance to go back to Texas for a couple of days and kind of be off the schedule for two days and fish a little bit and think about the team and things we need to do without being rushed and all that,” he said. “So it was a good time.”

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