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PHOENIX — Here is what Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said before his team’s regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers.
If the Clippers win, they will be the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and face the Suns, the No. 4 seed, in the first round.
This story has select quotes from Williams’ press conference below.
On if Suns backup guard Cameron Payne and center Bismack Biyombo’s respective injuries affected his decision to continue to rest players:
“I’m sure it does. Anytime you try to prioritize the load, health, managing some soreness and things that guys have, you don’t get to this point without guys having a few issues that you want to are as clean as possible going into next week. And then you see two guys out there, playing the way we play, go down, I’m sure it does. Everything we’re doing is trying to make sure guys are as healthy as they can be.”
On what he is looking for with so many bench players starting and playing big minutes
“Same thing I always look for, nothing changes. Playing our style of basketball, running our same stuff. Games are always an opportunity to learn, but our standard is still the same. So we’re just going to not reinvent the game or get goofy, that’s not how we operate and we’re preparing the same way we always do.”
On his expectations for backup guard Saben Lee in the game:
“He’s been huge for us, always ready. Without that segment we had with him earlier this year, we may not be in this position. When you think about what (backup forward) Torrey (Craig) did, what Saben did, what (backup forward) Ish (Wainright) has been able to do and you think about their mindset going into the summer, you wouldn’t have guessed those three guys, and (backup center) Jock (Landale), given us a chance to be in this spot with home court locked up and all the things that have happened. And so to his credit, he’s just a stay-ready guy, but he’s also a guy that can play and we’re hopeful today, he can continue to improve because he is going to get a lot of burn.”
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