After losing a third straight game that dropped to 8-8 this season, a frustrated Chris Paul said directly about the current state of the Phoenix Suns: he needs to play better.
“We’re not …” Paul began, pausing briefly, “playing well enough right now. I’m not going to say we’re not good enough, but we’re not playing well enough right now.”
The Suns fell 102-97 at home on Wednesday to Paul’s former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the last three minutes going the wrong way for Phoenix. The Thunder finished 11-2, and the Suns missed the final six shots.
Paul, who led the Thunder to a surprising 5 seed season last season, behind the brilliant game, scored 32 points this season in 35 minutes against OKC. But two clean looks in the last 20 seconds did not fall, the first being an intermediate rotation that came out of the rim, and the second a potential binding immediately 3 that caught all the air.
The Suns have been without guard All-Star Devin Booker in the last two games due to a painful hamstring. While the team missed its ability to score, coach Monty Williams refused to acknowledge this or anything as an excuse.
“Until this team understands the consistency for four quarters, we will feel that much,” Williams said. “We can try to make everyone feel sorry for us. It won’t work. We have to be consistent. That’s up to us.”
Williams, clearly aggravated by his availability two minutes after the game, influenced the need for consistency of the Suns.
“On the stretch, I had an incredibly poor finish,” he said. “We have open photos, missing photos under the basket. It’s just poor. Poor execution and poor finishing. That’s it.
“At some point, you just have to finish the games and understand what it takes to be a very good team is consistency,” Williams said. “Period. That’s the business.”
Williams said if he was asked any questions from that point on, he would answer in the same way: consistency.
“Whatever you ask me, I’ll say ‘consistency,'” Williams said. “This is.”
The Suns led by 15 at the end of the first quarter. But with sloppy turnovers and stagnant offense, they scored just 10 points in the second quarter, causing OKC’s 21-4 run to take the lead at the break.
As Paul tends to do, he calmly settled into the game, postponing early, but asserting himself late. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to give the Suns a late lead, but defensive deficiencies and poor offensive possessions led to Phoenix’s collapse.
“We play in spurts,” Paul said. “We have to respect who we play against. Every night. Respect your opponent. They are paid just like us.”
For Paul and the Suns, a promising start to the season has declined in the past three weeks. Paul’s addition appeared to help support the momentum they built with their undefeated bubble run, but a break in their season with a three-game break from health and safety protocols and then Booker’s injury. they stopped.
The Suns have lost five of their last six games, with almost all recent losses being tight calls – overtime games back against the Denver Nuggets not going, a four-point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and a five-point loss to OKC.
“I’m just trying to figure out how we can win,” Paul said. “Because lost things get old.”