"They're better without him" - Stephen A. Smith believes the Phoenix Suns are greater in Chris Paul's absence
With the Phoenix Suns season on the line tonight in a pivotal Game 6 at their home-court, Chris Paul remains out as he continues to be recover from his left groin strain injury.
However, since he got sidelined from the series after sustaining the injury in Game 2, the Suns managed to even the series at 2-2 as they were able to protect their home-court. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant went on to combine 158 points together to bring the team back into the series without their floor general on the court.
On ESPN's "First Take," Stephen A. Smith gave his perspective on the impact of Chris Paul's absence on the Phoenix Suns and how the team has somehow found a winning formula from it.
"We want to make sure that the world recognizes one of the greatest point guards in the history of the game," Smith said. "They're better without him. That's no shade on him, if anything it's shade on a great, great coach ... in Monty Williams."
From Smith's point-of-view, the Suns play with a much better pace at 102.00 when Cameron Payne is in the starting lineup as opposed to Chris Paul, wherein a lineup including him has a pace of 99.89.
With a faster approach to get into their offensive sets, the ball movement is more fluid without Paul holding the ball for majority of their possessions. This is important as the team has a limited depth to support Booker and Durant, coupled with Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams' hesitancy in playing the other role players on his roster when Chris Paul is available.
The true impact of Paul's absence from the team will be tested further as the Suns host the Nuggets at their home-court in a win-or-go home situation.
Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams on Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic altercation
Following a tough Game 5 loss, Phoenix suns coach Monty Williams spoke to the media to address the on-court altercation with Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic.
"The league has to figure out all that stuff,” Williams said. “There’s just too much silliness going on in the NBA when it comes to that. Everybody does it. There should be a written rule that you shouldn’t walk over to somebody’s huddle, but everybody in the league does that, it’s kind of silly."
During a huddle between Williams and his team, Nuggets' Bruce Brown and Nikola Jokic interfered and included themselves in the huddle conversation. Durant took offense to the gimmick, lightly shoved Brown and Jokic away, which resulted in technical fouls being assessed to both Durant and Brown.