Devin Booker # 1 will celebrate the game-winning picture with Deandre Ayton # 22 and Chris Paul # 3 of the Phoenix Suns against Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter at the American Airlines Center on February 01, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Devin Booker did a hard scratch, as he had done before.
Monty Williams refused credit, as usual.
When the Suns (11-8) freed Devin Booker for three to beat the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, meaning to the team went beyond the win and the best. In one play, how the Suns Booker watched is telling Williams that his team is making progress.
Williams pointed Monday night to Deandre Ayton’s “non-fiction” screen that followed a series of eye-catching acts.
It came to Booker from Josh Richardson just enough as the Mavericks did not blow a turn or misfire with each other running the Suns in their set after a period of time. Richardson was right there, but Booker hit all three to go ahead, 109-108.
That’s all to say that the Suns players outscored the Mavs.
“That’s where the focus should be,” Williams said Tuesday.
The play was stolen from former Paul Los Angeles Clippers teams of which Paul was a part. Williams confirmed Tuesday that it was a play from then-coach Clippers Doc Rivers.
“We have an ATO sorter (over time), a database that I’m referring to,” Williams said. “What people don’t understand is that it’s so difficult to get a glimpse in those times. These plays were executed by these people on the floor. ”
Before the bullet went up, wings Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson came over the court with crooked cuts. While point guard Chris Paul was dripping with big men Dorian Finney-Smith and then Maxi Kleber defending him, Bridges and Johnson were eye candles.
For the front half of the play, Booker stood across the court and set up a few screens of his own.
In the time when Williams named him, the head coach told Paul he was a regular run for Clippers team vice-captain JJ Reddick. Having access to Paul’s encyclopedia of basketball experience gave the guard a starting point.
“He knew exactly what I was talking about, so he knew the time,” Williams said.
That helped Paul struggle. Before Paul made the pass, he said he saw Booker’s eyes widen as he came off Ayton’s screen.
After Tuesday’s practice, Williams ran out a long list of topics the Suns focused on the next day: motion defense, defensive rebounds and defensive communications.
But after the offense made enough plays to steal a game, the Phoenix coach had at least one example of progress.
“The players deserve a ton of credit for his execution because we didn’t do that,” Williams said immediately after the game. “Whether it’s a defensive action, taken to stop them being shot or offended, it’s something that will help us build continuity.”