Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder sweep a third-straight first-round opponent.
There has been at least one first-round sweep in each of the last 23 postseasons and, appropriately, it was the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder that kept that streak alive. Every other team is still playing and the other No. 1 seed is down 3-1, but the Thunder took care of business in their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.
Game 4 was the closest, but it was never in doubt after the Thunder ended the first half on a 27-12 run, scoring those 27 points on just 11 offensive possessions. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his thing (31 points and eight assists), his teammates shot well, and the Thunder cruised to a 131-122 victory in Phoenix on Monday.
Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference semifinals for the third straight year:
1. The Thunder are offensive
This was the Thunder’s worst offensive season of the last three, as they scored just 2.8 more points per 100 possessions than the league average, down from +5.6 in 2024-25. But, despite losing Jalen Williams (again) in Game 2, they were incredibly efficient over these last nine days against the Suns’ top-10 defense.
With the Thunder scoring 126.9 points per 100 possessions over the four games, it was, by a wide margin, their best offensive series of the seven they’ve played over the last three years. They shot no better than 35% from 3-point range over the first three games, but took care of the ball and gave themselves plenty of second chances with their work on the offensive glass.
Turnovers finally became an issue in Game 4, but the champs made up for it with their best shooting game of the series: 54% from the field, including 17-for-34 (50%) from 3-point range, and 26-for-30 (87%) from the free-throw line.
“When you play ahead of the defense, you move it early, and guys step into shots with confidence,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, “you give yourself a chance to have a night like tonight. ”
Gilgeous-Alexander got his 31 points, with some ridiculous buckets included. But he also made the right reads when the Suns zoned up against his isolations, and his teammates rewarded him:
In the first quarter, the Thunder scored 33 points over a stretch of 19 possessions. They finished the second with 27 on 11. The offense slowed down a bit on the third, but still had a stretch of 17 points on eight trips down the floor. They weren’t getting a lot of stops on defense, but it didn’t matter.
2. Thunder flourish with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench
For as long as Williams is out (and even if/when he comes back), the Thunder offense will be under the microscope when Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t in the game. Things did not go well in that regard in Game 3, when Oklahoma City scored just 20 points on 19 offensive possessions with the MVP on the bench.
Game 4 was a much different story. Not counting their 24-second violation in the closing seconds, the Thunder scored 31 points on 19 offensive possessions with Gilgeous-Alexander off the floor, shooting 11-for-17, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
The scoring was balanced, with five of Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammates scoring at least five points in those 10 minutes that he sat. But the offense ran through Ajay Mitchell, who had a much more efficient night (22 points on 7-for-16 shooting) than he did on Saturday.
Chet Holmgren was the other guy who played the entirety of those minutes that Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, and the Thunder used the Mitchell-Holmgren pick-and-roll to get the Phoenix defense in rotation:
The non-Gilgeous-Alexander minutes might not ever be this good again; That effective field goal percentage of 76% is unsustainable. But Mitchell is just getting started with his playoff career, having logged just 84 total minutes in last year’s postseason. So he’s being thrown into the fire right now, his game-to-game development is critical, and those 10 minutes on Monday were important in regard to the Thunder’s ability to repeat.
3. Booker and Suns find some answers, but not enough
Though the Thunder had their best offensive performance of the series, Game 4 wasn’t under wraps until the final minute, because the Suns were nearly efficient against the league’s No. 1 defense.
Devin Booker remained the focus of the Thunder’s defensive game plan and simply could not break free in the first two quarters. He went into halftime with two points and five turnovers, having shot 0-for-3 from the field.
But the Suns still had an efficient half, because Dillon Brooks did some work in isolation and they found those weak-side 3-pointers that the Thunder will yield:
Booker finally got going in the second half, getting a couple of buckets in transition because the Thunder committed a slew of turnovers. Running a pick-and-roll toward the empty side of the floor (instead of toward more defenders) also worked:
He finished with 24 points, his high for the series. But it was still his lowest scoring (21.3 points per game) and third least efficient (true shooting percentage of 56.4%) of the 10 he played in. There’s not a lot you can do when you’re the primary focus of one of the best defensive teams of your lifetime.
“Our coverages were pretty good on him,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He was out there trying to make the right play. He was playing basketball the right way, playing for his teammates. We were showing him bodies and he was making reads.
“Our game plan just worked.”
4. Suns were a whole new team this season
The Suns were the only team that was swept out of this first round, but this season still ends on a much higher note than the last one. In fact, the Suns made us quickly forget how disappointing their 2024-25 season was, somehow becoming a better team after parting ways with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.
The offense took a step backward, but it was just a small one. And the Suns were the second most improved defensive team in the league, allowing 4.8 fewer points per 100 possessions than they did last season. Improvement came with the league’s biggest jump in opponent turnover rate and its second biggest drop in opponent 3-point percentage.
Most important is that the Suns established a new identity under first-year head coach Jordan Ott. They don’t have the talent of most other Western Conference playoff teams, but they quickly figured out how to win games. Consistent aggressiveness on defense and on the offensive glass gets you more shots than your opponent and a lot of regular season wins.
“The discipline and organization on both sides of the ball,” Daigneault said of the Suns, “was impressive.”
Most of the Phoenix core is under contract for next season, though point guard Collin Gillespie (unrestricted) and center Mark Williams (restricted) are free agents this summer, and the Suns do not have a first-round pick in this year’s Draft. They can certainly hope for continued improvement and better health for the 24-year-old Jalen Green, who played in only 32 regular season games, though it’s fair to wonder how well he fits alongside Booker long-term.
While the Suns’ season is over, the Thunder will wait on the winner of the Lakers-Rockets series, with L.A. up 3-1 and having the opportunity to close it out at home on Wednesday (10 ET, ESPN).
* * *
John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Bluesky.
