“It was a good old-fashioned xxx whipping from beginning to end,” Booker said. “We have something to build on. We have more fuel added to the fire. And this is all the stuff that you just have to stand up and be a man about. Say we lose and move forward with it.”

Williams took all the blame for the Suns’ nosedive to extinction, attempting to cover for the underwhelming performances from Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton. In an astonishing admission, Williams said he might’ve ridden the team too hard in the regular season. He attempted to minimize their failure, lamenting how the Suns just ran into a bad night at the worst possible time. “From my standpoint, I did not have us ready to play in a Game 7,” Williams said. “(Dallas) played their tail off, and that part for me is tough because I know how bad our guys wanted it. We just had a bad night.”

“We just came out and didn’t have enough,” Paul said. “Mont said that’s on him. But I think that’s on me, as the point guard, the leader of the team, to come out and make sure we get the right shots and all that.”