“You had to come from Maryland and D.C. …

“You had to come from Maryland and D.C. and Prince George’s County to know what Coach Thompson meant to us,” Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams finally said on the phone Monday. “I played in his gym one summer, and he cussed me out because I wasn’t doing something right, and man, it was an honor. Patrick [Ewing] and Alonzo [Mourning] were there playing pickup, and I felt for a moment like I was part of their family, because Coach didn’t talk to everyone like that. … He looked like my granddad, and every time I saw him …” The words dissolved into tears. Finally, Williams found five that explained why Thompson meant so much to him — meant so much to so many — and always will. “He stood up for us.”