Considering the circumstances leading into Wednesday’s game, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 132-101 loss to the Phoenix Suns should not be that surprising.
When the Thunder ruled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams out against the Phoenix Suns prior to Tuesday’s win over the Golden State Warriors, it felt as if the groundwork was being laid for a scheduled loss.
The Thunder — playing on the second night of a back-to-back — were without two of their four best players including their All-Star guard. Meanwhile the Suns, who entered the game on a three-game winning streak, enjoyed two days off prior to this game.
After slipping in pregame warmups, Kevin Durant’s late scratch from making his Suns home debut creaked the door open a little bit for the Thunder on a potential upset win, but that door was quickly shut by KD’s co-star.
Devin Booker scored 44 points on 17-of-23 shooting and 6-of-10 shooting from 3. By half, Booker had 30 points. Without Durant, Booker dominated.
“It was just one of those nights,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said following the Thunder’s largest loss of the season.
To OKC’s credit, it held its own in the first half, trailing by just eight points at the break. After trailing by 13 points following the first quarter, a 31-26 second-quarter advantage helped the Thunder close the gap.
“I thought we did a great job after the start of the game giving ourselves a chance,” Daigneault said. “Just couldn’t get a handle on it. Obviously, Booker was great tonight. Their offense was cooking. We didn’t do a great enough job offensively to keep pace with them.”
Lindy Waters III’s career first half made up for Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence as he scored 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3.
“Just trying to play fast. Play Thunder basketball and let it fly,” Waters said about his hot night from 3.
But once the scoring dried up in the second half, the Suns began to pull away and a 44-point third quarter helped them build a 24-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Even without Durant, the Suns enjoyed a blistering shooting performance. The Suns shot 49-of-94 (52.1%) from the field and 20-of-43 (46.5%) from 3.
While it’s a downer for Suns fans that Durant’s anticipated home debut was delayed, they left the arena happy with an easy win against an injury depleted and fatigued Thunder squad.
Other contributors for the Suns include Chris Paul, who finished with 18 points and nine assists. Off the bench, Terrence Ross added 24 points and went 6-of-10 from 3. Deandre Ayton had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, it was a rough shooting night for the Thunder as they shot 33-of-88 (37.5%) from the field and went 15-of-43 (34.9%) from 3. The Thunder turned the ball over 16 times, a high number especially considering their low 22 team assists.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.