Suns fire head coach Monty Williams

Monty Williams (YouTube)

According to Tom Gatto of sportingnews.com, the Phoenix Suns fired head coach Monty Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia on Saturday. The decision came after Williams was extremely successful in the regular season coaching the Suns over the last three seasons. In 236 games, the Suns had a record of 16o wins and 76 losses for an excellent winning percentage of .678.

In 2021, Williams guided the Suns to the NBA Finals before losing in six games to the Milwaukee Bucks. Interestingly, the Bucks have also fired their head coach, Mike Budenholzer, this month. One reason why Williams and Budenholzer lost their jobs is because they did not meet postseason expectations. The Bucks had the best record in the East at 58 wins and 24 losses before being eliminated in the first round by the Miami Heat. While the Suns had a 2022-23 NBA regular season record of 45 wins and 37 losses, and reached the second round of the NBA Playoffs, before losing in six games to the Denver Nuggets. 

In 2021-22, Williams was the NBA coach of the year. That season the Suns had a postseason record of 64 wins and 18 losses. But the Suns were unable to get past the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

Heading into the 2023 NBA Playoffs, there were high expectations for the Suns. Despite only being eight games above .500, Phoenix was considered a championship candidate with the recent acquisition of Kevin Durant. However, over the last week, Phoenix was unable to stop Nikola Jokic, who could be considered one of the best all-around centers in NBA history.

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