The Phoenix Suns led their clash against the Miami Heat by as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter before the Heat came roaring back, eventually winning the game 113-112 behind Jimmy Butler's monstrous defensive effort on Devin Booker during the Suns' final offensive possession. After the game, Suns head coach Monty Williams felt especially hard done by the result as his team was in prime position to claim the victory even as a huge free-throw discrepancy reared its ugly head all night long.

In his postgame presser, Williams voiced out his displeasure over the Suns' disadvantage on the charity stripe, with Phoenix taking a mere four free-throw attempts (making two) compared to the Heat's 25 (making 22) – a 20 point uphill climb.

“It's just one of those things where you look at the stat sheet and you look at situations like that, we only ended up with four free throws for the game. That is hard to swallow. I think it's the second lowest free-throw total we've ever had in franchise history,” Williams said.

“In a physical game like that where everybody is bumping, we only get four free throws. It's really becoming hard to swallow. You feel like you can't even talk about it because you're gonna get fined. That's an unreal amount of free throws in any NBA game, you know what I'm saying?”

Per Duane Rankin:

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To pile on the Suns' misery, it was two made free throws from Bam Adebayo that gave the Heat the game-winning lead. On the night, Adebayo had 14 free-throw attempts, making 12 of them, as the Suns allowed the Heat big man to score his season high.

The loss marks the Suns' second straight defeat after losing to the Orlando Magic on Friday night. In spite of the soul-crushing nature of this most recent loss, Monty Williams will be proud of his team's performances sans star point guard Chris Paul, who remained out with a heel injury.

Perhaps the Suns could return to winning ways on Wednesday night, when they host the Golden State Warriors, who remain winless on the road, at Footprint Center.