First-year Suns coach Monty Williams had the Phoenix Suns glowing hot when their Disney World bubble burst.
With only a sliver of an opportunity to make the playoffs, Phoenix went undefeated. If a Brooklyn Nets buzzer-beater had dropped in, the Suns might still be playing.
Williams was selected as the Coach of the Seeding Games, an honor that recognizes his squad’s 8-0 run and the all-but-impossible circumstances under which it was accomplished, keeping his guys focused through a national reckoning on racism and the seemingly obvious statement that “Black lives matter” as much as any others.