Thunder crushed Suns
- The Oklahoma City Thunder obliterated the Phoenix Suns in Game 1, dominating the scoreboard and tempo on April 22. (si.com) - The final score was 119-84, a 35-point margin that highlighted OKC's two-way depth. (si.com) - A full-game highlights package captured the run-heavy quarter that sealed the rout for the Thunder. (youtube.com)
Oklahoma City opened its first-round series by beating Phoenix 119-84 on Sunday, April 19, and the game was effectively over by halftime. (nba.com) (espn.com) The Thunder led 35-20 after one quarter, 65-44 at the break and 97-66 after three, turning the opener into a four-quarter blowout at Paycom Center. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points, Jalen Williams added 22, and Chet Holmgren had 16 for Oklahoma City. Devin Booker led Phoenix with 23 points, while Jalen Green scored 17 and Dillon Brooks had 18 on 6-for-22 shooting. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) The team numbers were just as one-sided. Phoenix shot 29-for-83 from the field, committed 17 turnovers and finished minus-9 on the glass; Oklahoma City forced those mistakes, grabbed 54 rebounds and posted 13 steals with seven blocks. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) This was the Thunder’s first playoff game after a 64-18 regular season and another No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Phoenix arrived as the No. 8 seed after surviving the play-in tournament and then ran into an Oklahoma City team that had a full week off. (espn.com) Oklahoma City’s opening pattern now looks familiar. ESPN’s recap noted the Thunder also won big in last year’s Game 1 against Memphis after taking the top seed, and this opener followed the same script: early pressure, a widening margin and starters resting late. (espn.com) One sequence summed up the night. At the end of the first quarter, Jaylin Williams threw a long pass to Holmgren, who turned and hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 15 and sent the arena into the second quarter with Oklahoma City in control. (espn.com) Phoenix did have the first punch, taking a 5-0 lead before Oklahoma City settled in. After that, the Thunder’s defense and depth took over, and nine Oklahoma City players logged at least 13 minutes in a game that never tightened again. (espn.com) By the fourth quarter, the only real question was how soon the benches would empty. Game 1 answered the first question of the series quickly: Oklahoma City had the pace, the size and the margin from the opening quarter on. (espn.com)
