Sunday\u2019s 119-84 Game 1 win<\/a>, they looked the part.<\/p>\nThe front office ultimately determines an organization\u2019s direction, but it doesn\u2019t work without a strong head coach. And that\u2019s why this is such an important series for Ott.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been great to this point. He took a rebuilding team and led it to 45 wins, maximizing nearly every player on the roster. Ott was a candidate for NBA Coach of the Year until the Suns, hit hard with injuries, faded over the season\u2019s second half.<\/p>\n
The playoffs are his next test. And this series will be incredibly difficult.<\/p>\n
No one expects the Suns to beat the Thunder. Many don\u2019t even think they can win a game in this best-of-seven series. But it\u2019s important that the Suns are competitive. Reaching this stage only to get routed in four quick games would do little for their national credibility.<\/p>\n
Ott wouldn\u2019t admit it \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re an excuse-making team,\u201d he said \u2014 but the Suns did not take the court at PayCom Center under the best circumstances. They had to scrap just to get here, losing to Portland before beating Golden State last week in the Play-In Tournament. Meanwhile, the Thunder rested and waited.<\/p>\n
Asked before Sunday\u2019s contest if he\u2019s even had a chance to enjoy reaching the playoffs, Ott broke it down like this:<\/p>\n
\u201cTuesday night (losing to Portland), there was no enjoyment. Wednesday night (recovering from the Portland loss, prepping for Golden State), there was not much enjoyment. Friday night \u2026 I think there was a little relief that this group gets to play playoff basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the best way to start a series, which made Sunday\u2019s outcome predictable. The Thunder took control with an early 17-2 burst. They grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and turned them into 25 points. The Suns didn\u2019t help themselves with 19 turnovers, mistakes Oklahoma City turned into 34 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a recipe for disaster,\u201d Suns guard Devin Booker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turnovers killed us,\u201d fellow guard Jalen Green said.<\/p>\n
Down 30 with seven minutes left, Ott waved the white flag and emptied his bench, trying to move on to Wednesday\u2019s Game 2 as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
The playoffs are about adjustments \u2014 physically, mentally and schematically. The off days are just as important as game days. And that falls on Ott and the coaching staff. Some of it isn\u2019t complicated, Ott said. The Suns can\u2019t hold the ball against Oklahoma City; they have to keep it moving. They can\u2019t take contested shots inside the 3-point arc. They can\u2019t give the Thunder easy opportunities in transition.<\/p>\n
The rest will be more difficult. The Thunder are deep and physical. They have a champion\u2019s confidence and, according to Green, get away with more defensive aggressiveness than should be allowed. The Suns need to play better, but they also may need to be creative to make this competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a young team right now that\u2019s getting playoff experience against the defending champs,\u201d said Booker, whose 23 points led Phoenix. \u201cThis is a learning curve for us. This is an opportunity for us, and we have to lock into the details.\u201d<\/p>\n
How do teams reset? Ott said the Suns discussed it throughout the Play-In Tournament and again Saturday night. One game won\u2019t determine the series. It\u2019s the first to four wins. Sunday marked only the first chapter, and an early test for a young, promising head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll bounce back,\u201d Ott said. \u201cWe understand there\u2019s some things to clean up, so a couple of these days we\u2019ll use to clean up, then we\u2019ll go back out there and be ready to go Wednesday night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Jordan Ott and Mark Daigneault stood 25 feet apart Sunday afternoon. Ott crossed his arms,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-714352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-phoenix","11":"tag-phoenix-suns","12":"tag-phoenixsuns","13":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116434639551012841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}