Monty Williams Credits Former Sixers Coach Brett Brown After Win vs. Clippers

Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams admitted he "stole" the game-winning gameplan against the Clippers from former Sixers head coach Brett Brown.

The Phoenix Suns engaged in a fourth-quarter thriller against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. After snagging a win in Game 1, the Suns wanted to continue taking advantage of playing on their home court during Game 2 on Tuesday.

They got off to a decent start. Although the Clippers kept it close throughout the entire game, the Suns managed to head into halftime with a 48-47 lead. Then, in the third quarter, they managed to pull away a bit. 

Outscoring Los Angeles 27-24, Phoenix found themselves with a two-possession lead heading into the final quarter. However, the Clippers fought harder than ever to try and even the series.

With a sense of urgency, Clippers star Paul George picked up ten points for his team in the final quarter of the outing. Luke Kennard did his team a solid off the bench as he collected ten of LA's 32 points as well. Despite leading the charge for the Clippers offensively late in the game, George's back-to-back misses at the free-throw line gave the Suns a last-chance opportunity to get ahead and put the game away.

With less than a second left in the game, the Suns trailed a single point. With only one opportunity left to get ahead, Suns head coach Monty Williams drew up the perfect play. As Phoenix's Jae Crowder waited patiently to inbound the ball, he found Deandre Ayton on his way to the rim. That's when Crowder launched up an alley-oop, which Ayton threw down in just enough time to secure the lead. 

As the execution secured the Suns their second-straight win, Phoenix's head coach Monty Williams garnered tons of praise for planning the perfect play in that situation, which he credited an old Philadelphia 76ers head coach for.

Monty Williams said the alley-oop out of bounds game-winning play was “stole” from Brett Brown and Joe Prunty.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) June 23, 2021

Before landing the job as the Suns head coach in 2019, Williams was an assistant under Brett Brown with the Sixers. While Williams can take a lot of credit for calling the game-winning play on Tuesday night, he admitted that he didn't come up with it. Instead, he "stole" it from Brown and Joe Prunty.

Regardless of where the play came from, Williams and the Suns deserve a ton of credit for the way they closed out the game with a victory on Tuesday night. The ideal plan was executed to perfection and it resulted in a playoff win.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.