The Oklahoma City Thunder are 38-40 after this loss to the Suns at home, with only three games left to play in the regular season. The OKC Thunder cling to the tenth seed in the NBA’s Western Conference, which is good enough to qualify for the play-in tournament next week if the season ended today.
While the Thunder fell 128-118, the team got back on track following one of their worst weeks of the season. Oklahoma City capped off a 17-game month of March with a critical road loss to the Pacers. However, after lacking energy and effort since last Sunday against the Trail Blazers, things turned around for OKC.
Despite the loss, the OKC Thunder might be back on track after this game against the Suns.
The Suns trotted onto the Paycom Center floor with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and DeAndre Ayton. There is no wonder how they scored 128 points in this contest. However, the OKC Thunder made life difficult for those Suns Stars, who can hit difficult shots.
The energy, effort, and intensity were back for the OKC Thunder for the first time in over a week. Despite falling to one of the best teams in the NBA, there is reason to believe with the grueling March schedule behind them and the NBA Play-in tournament preverbal carrot dangling in front of them; the Thunder are now back on track.
“We want it.” Aaron Wiggins said when asked about the Play-in after this loss to the Suns. Wiggins, one of the best Thunder rotation players, dropped 14 points on eight shots in this game, with a rebound in 22 minutes.
With the way the defense swarmed, fighting for loose balls, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned in his typical superstar performance, and the Thunder are gearing up for the final three regular season games.
On top of dropping 39 points, dishing out five assists, and hauling in three rebounds on 50 percent shooting from the floor and 17-for-17 at the line, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played his regular rotational minutes.
In a game against a Championship-caliber team, SGA played 37 minutes, including all of the first and third frames, something we have not seen since the Abdominal injury.