Following the Suns loss to the Bucks in the Finals, Phoenix Suns head coach was spotted in the opposing team’s locker room giving a speech. Some questioned the move, and why he would actually give a speech to a team he just got beat by. But Williams says he thought Antetokounmpo was leading him into a side office, not the middle of the locker room.
Phoenix Suns Head Coach Monty Williams Got Emotional After Visiting The Bucks Locker Room Following Finals Losshttps://t.co/XHmtSfrgFR
— SideAction (@SideActionHQ) July 21, 2021
Williams, via Sam Amick of The Athletic:
“You know what man, I heard about what was made of it after the fact. And to be straight with you, it happened so quick. All I wanted to do was congratulate Giannis, because I came right out of a press conference and I shut the door and I went right into him. And he was sitting there with a cigar in his hands, soaking wet from — I guess — the champagne, and he had a bottle in his hand (laughs). So I’m thinking to myself, ‘How cool is this, man?’ (laughs). I come right out of my press conference, I’m emotional, and then I run right into him and I just wanted to be gracious and say ‘Congrats. You deserved it. You beat us.’
I wasn’t trying to do anything (in the Bucks locker room), I was just trying to congratulate Giannis, and I thought maybe he’d take me to a side office where Bud (Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer) and (Bucks general manager) Jon (Horst) were and I was just going to congratulate them and maybe see a couple of their players. I had no idea that he was going to take me into the whole deal (laughs), but it was cool because I had so much respect for him.
Yeah, he was like ‘Come on, Coach,’ and I was like, ‘OK.’ I didn’t know their locker room, and it was all done authentically. I wasn’t trying to be a great sportsman. I wasn’t trying to be classy, any of that. I was just doing what I was taught, you know? When you lose, you look the guy in the eye, you shake his hand — as hard as it is — and maybe someday you get a chance to be on the other side of that.”
Monty Williams unplugged: On his Bucks locker room visit, Chris Paul, finding peace in Texas, spirituality and more
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— Rotolytics (@rotolytics) August 23, 2021
Giannis is really the guy responsible, not sure why he would lead Monty into the locker room, but it ended up being a nice moment.
Williams handled that surprise visit very well…
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