The Phoenix Suns are 3-1 after a fairly tough opening slate of games.
First defeating the Dallas Mavericks on opening night before losing in overtime to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Suns managed to string back-to-back wins against the top two projected teams in the West in the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors by 17 and 29 points, respectively.
Tuesday night's win over the defending champions featured plenty of physicality, mostly brought forward by the Suns.
“Anytime you hold a team like that to 105, that’s saying a lot about our respect to them, the attention to detail," Monty Williams said following the game.
"They got to miss shots, but we just respect them. We went through our session this morning to get ready for them and it was about as focused as any session we’ve ever had. Guys understand that if you don’t play at a certain level, you’re going to get beat pretty badly. It was a good night for us defensively, I thought emotionally, we kept it together when it was starting to get a little squirrelly and we were able to make enough plays during that time to get back to solid."
The Suns and Warriors would produce a total of seven technical fouls with one ejection (Klay Thompson) coming in the third quarter.
It was a chippy game between two title contenders in a playoff-like atmosphere, and Williams said he was proud of how Phoenix responded amid all the chaos.
"You expect some of it and so I can’t lose my focus during those moments. I’m trying to stay as even-keel as I can when those sessions happen in a game, so I can be calm enough to make a good decision, but we expect it, we talk about it a lot for whatever reason," Williams said.
"When we play some of the top teams in the West, it just happens to go that way. I think both teams want it, I don’t think it’s personal at all, I think we just respect them. They’re champions, so they’re going to get our best because they are the best and so I think a lot of the emotion is just out of being competitive. We don’t take it personally at all, we just understand better that once all that stuff happens, we got to get back to focusing on being competitive and trying to win the game.”
The Suns again look to outmatch their opponent in another home game on Friday when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.
More must-reads: