Thunder 112, Suns 88: Sans-Dragic, Phoenix gets decimated in OKC

The Suns were in Seattle to take on Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and the Seattle Supersonics, or maybe that’s just what it felt like, as the Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely hammered the Suns, 112-88. While Oklahoma City came into the game at 10-13, they had been playing a lot more like the aforementioned 64-win SuperSonics than a team below .500, especially considering that OKC’s record didn’t really give the whole story about the team, due to the fact that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had somewhat recently returned to the lineup. 

The Thunder absolutely dominated the game, leading wire to wire and outscoring the Suns in the first, second and third quarters by 12, 10 and 3 points respectively. The game never really got close in the second half, as the Suns tried to shoot their way back into the lead, which proved ineffective. Phoenix made just 7-of-31 three-point attempts, with eight different players shooting worse than 50% from three point range.

Gerald Green vs. OKC

In the two most recent games against the Thunder, the Suns had gone 2-0, with Gerald Green leading the way. Green averaged 32.5 points per game over the last two meetings, while shooting 57.6% from the field and 65% from three-point range. With Goran Dragic out for this meeting, Green was thrust into the starting five, but unfortunately for the Suns, he was not able to repeat his performances from the last two games.

Green scored 10 points in the first half, but he did it on 3-of-8 shooting while committing three turnovers. The rest of the team combined for just four turnovers in the first half, meaning that Green accounted for 43% of the team’s total. Additionally, at -16, Green was tied for the worst plus/minus rating on the team in the first, and it wouldn’t get much better after that. Green would end the game with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, adding seven rebounds and one assist.

Home cooking

The Suns did not get off to a good start against the Thunder in any sense, as both Markieff Morris and Eric Bledsoe found themselves in early foul trouble. Counting technical fouls, the Suns picked up 10 first quarter fouls, including 4 in the first three minutes. The Thunder, on the other hand, picked up 5 total fouls in the quarter, while taking advantage of the Suns’ foul trouble, shooting 13-of-14 at the free throw line.

While some of the calls did not sit well with the Suns, the team’s tendency to settle for jumpers ended up burying the team in the first half. The Suns were unable to get into the lane and draw fouls, which could have really helped the team considering how poorly they shot from three in the first half (3-of-16). Phoenix failed to adjust to how tight the officials were calling the game, and in that led to the Suns falling way behind early..

Containing the Big 3

One of the many things that makes the Thunder so dangerous on any given night is that the team consists of three All Star caliber players, two of which are perennial MVP candidates. Any of those three can completely alter a game on a given night, and Sunday was no outlier. Russell Westbrook completely dominated the game early, going on a personal 12-0 run in the first quarter, on his way to ending the half with 24 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Durant on the other hand poured in a relatively quiet 18 points first half points, while Ibaka began the game making each of his first five field goal attempts. The Suns’ had more than their fair share of mental lapses over that stretch, and on multiple occasions it seemed like Hornacek was quite frustrated with his team.

The Suns continued to allow the Thunder’s stars to play at a high level, well into the second half, as the trio would end up with a combined 63 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists, playing a grand total of just 70 minutes. On the other hand, the Suns top scoring trio (sans-garbage time) was Eric Bledsoe, Gerald Green and Marcus Morris, who combined for 37 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. That 26-point margin between the teams’ top three players really mirrored the way the game went, as Oklahoma City was simply better than the Suns in most areas.

Battle of the bigs

Phoenix really struggled on the boards against the Thunder, as they found themselves down 18 on the glass at the start of the fourth quarter. Four different Thunder players had seven or more rebounds at that point, compared to two for Phoenix, and at the end of the game, the top four rebounders all played for Oklahoma City. Ultimately, the Suns big men did not perform well against the size of Adams, Ibaka and Perkins, and the Suns’ overall impact from the big men can basically be summed up by the following vine:

The Suns would end up getting out-rebounded by a final margin of 63-to-40, while giving up 14 offensive rebounds. The Suns would also have just one block from their big men, compared to five total from OKC.

Final Thoughts

There’s not many positive things you can take away from a game like this. The Suns didn’t look they ever really had a chance in this game, which supports the idea that Dragic is probably the most important player to the team. While it should be noted that the Suns faced early foul trouble, the team really didn’t respond to the adversity well at all, which ultimately led to the large defeat. Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Morris also struggled again, as they tried to lead the Suns’ bench unit, but again, everything was kind of thrown out of place with Dragic being out, so it’s important not to overreact, although the loss was certainly bad.

With all that being said, it was nice to see T.J. Warren, Archie Goodwin and Tyler Ennis get some more playing time, as the three combined for 24 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 49 minutes. Ennis in particular had a game to remember, finishing with what was obviously a career-high in points, at 11. While in no way does that make the negative of the loss any better, one would have to imagine that getting these minutes so early in their career could only help these guys, especially Warren, who has started to climb his way up in the rotation.