Oklahoma City – The Thunder returned from the Allstar break to host the best team in basketball,
the Phoenix Suns. It would have been the first time Chris Paul returned to OKC to play in front
of the fans but he is dealing with a thumb injury that is going to keep him out for the next 6-8
weeks.
The Thunder did get their best player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back after he missed the last 10
games due to an ankle injury but they were missing the bulk of their contributors with Lu Dort,
Kenrich Williams, Mike Muscala, and Ty Jerome all out nursing injuries.
The Suns are still the best team in the league though so most expected the Thunder to lose this
game. It started off like the Thunder themselves also thought they should lose this game. They
came out very flat on the offensive end and didn’t really play much defense and it looked like it
was going to be a really bad loss only scoring 18 points in the first and allowing 31. Then getting
down by as much as 19 in the 2nd quarter. Luckily, the short handed bench came in and settled
things down for the Thunder on both ends.
Played much more disciplined on offense and made a concerted effort to get the ball inside
because they couldn’t get any 3 point shots going. They only allowed 15 points in the 2nd quarter
and it looked like the Thunder defense we were accustomed to seeing all year. It became a game
and they got the Suns 19 point lead down to 3 going into half.
That defense didn’t really last.
When playing a team like the Suns, you have to be extremely disciplined and minimize your
mistakes because they will surely take advantage of them. Although the Thunder offense looked
a lot better in the 3rd, their defense was lacking. Allowing 37 points, in the quarter, it felt like the
Suns had full control of this game. Which showed on the scoreboard.
The Thunder ended up taking a 20 point loss, 124-104, but it was against the Suns so it didn’t
really seem like that bad of a 20 point loss.
Click the link to see the reasons they won:
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