The Phoenix Suns are three wins away from securing the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, but coach Monty Williams isn’t looking ahead.
Instead, he’s focused solely on preparing the Suns for a three-game trip beginning Sunday evening against the fading Sacramento Kings.
Phoenix is an NBA-best 57-14, while Sacramento is 25-47 and has lost 11 of its past 14 to fall five games behind the New Orleans Pelicans in the race for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 28 points and Deandre Ayton added 20 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s 129-102 rout of the Chicago Bulls as the Suns moved nine games ahead of the second-place Memphis Grizzlies in the West with 11 games left.
Although Phoenix is on the verge of clinching the NBA’s best regular-season record, Williams said it’s barely on his radar.
“I can’t even go there. That’s not my mindset,” he said. “I’m so focused on getting ready for practice tomorrow and preparing for Sacramento. You can think about it because you’re human, but it’s a quick thought for me, and then it’s right back to getting ready for the next step.”
The Suns have won four in a row, outscoring opponents by an average of 22.3 points during their streak.
The depleted Kings trailed by as many as 29 in Friday’s 126-97 loss to the Boston Celtics. Sacramento struggled to contain Boston stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who combined for 62 points.
One bright spot was the play of Domantas Sabonis, who tallied 30 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block.
De’Aaron Fox sat out after injuring his right hand against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. The Kings struggled without their point guard, who is listed as day-to-day.
“It was definitely hard,” Sabonis said. “He’s one of our leaders out there. He’s our point guard. He controls the pace of the game and he brings a lot to the team, so we definitely missed him out there. We hope he gets healthy and he gets back as soon as he can.”
Sacramento and Phoenix have split two games this season, with the home team losing each game. The Kings won 110-107 on Oct. 27 before losing 109-104 on Nov. 8.
Phoenix is thriving despite playing without Chris Paul (thumb injury), Cam Johnson (right-quad contusion) and Jae Crowder (groin).
Williams has turned to Mikal Bridges and Ayton for additional scoring in recent weeks, and the pair has responded. Bridges is averaging 17.6 points in his last 10 games, while Ayton is averaging 19.6 over that stretch.
“We need them to be aggressive,” Booker said. “We’ve been preaching that since last year. It takes a lot of pressure off everybody, and we wouldn’t be telling them to be aggressive if we didn’t know they were capable of doing what they do, and they’ve shown it in more spots this year than last.”
The Suns also have received a boost from Torrey Craig, who has started the last two games in place of Crowder. Craig has a combined 35 points in the two games while shooting 13 of 13 from the field, 5 of 5 from 3-point range and 4 of 4 from the foul line.
