More: Ellis, Warriors beat Suns in closing seconds
Might be a good thing the Suns get a few days off from practice and seven days between games for the NBA All-Star break. Perhaps their coach, Alvin Gentry, will be completely cooled off by then.
Gentry, a pretty congenial guy for the most part -- making the following comment uncharacteristic -- scowled and expressed his clear and unfiltered displeasure at the way his team played in a 106-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors at home Wednesday night.
"The way we approached the game sucked. Yeah I said it. Sucked," Gentry told members of the media after the game.
He referred to a listless start by the Suns that saw them trail by 17 points after the first quarter and 14 at halftime. Phoenix (14-20) goes into the All-Star Weekend behind the Warriors (13-17) in the Pacific Division and seemingly a long way from playoff contention.
To their credit, the Suns chipped away at an advantage that grew to 21 points in the second quarter. They even took a lead, 96-94, with Grant Hill's lob to Jared Dudley off an inbounds pass with 3:50 to play.
The game see-sawed back and forth, and Hill tied it at 104 with 11.6 seconds to play after Marcin Gortat stole a bad pass from Dorell Wright.
Monta Ellis, however, buried a tough fadeaway over the strong defense of Hill with one second left. Ellis accidentally bumped into Gentry on the sideline after the shot, the last two of his 26 for the night. The Suns' last shot, a long jumper out of the corner from Channing Frye, clanged off the rim as the final horn sounded.
The Warriors, without star guard Stephen Curry for much of the game after he injured a foot, hadn't won in Phoenix in six years and were 0 for their last 13 in games played in Phoenix. Frye finished with 22 points and Gortat added 21 for the Suns.
Frye's last shot was a good look, with little defense from Golden State's David Lee.
Here's video of Gentry's press conference. That's one angry coach.