Coming into this first-round matchup, it was already widely believed that the Suns were facing an Everest-esque uphill battle in their attempt to dethrone the reigning champion and number one-seeded OKC Thunder.
If they can't find a way to take better care of the ball, this Western Conference Quarterfinal may be more of a cakewalk than even most Oklahoma City fans were initially expecting.
During Sunday's series opener, Phoenix committed a whopping 17 turnovers compared to the Thunder's six. OKC, who established themselves as the league's most dangerous scoring club when fresh off the swipe, certainly made the most of the Suns' misfortunes, as they registered a ridiculous 32 points in direct response to these turnovers.
This year, Phoenix has proven to be a middle-of-the-pack squad from a protection standpoint, coughing up 14.5 turnovers a night. Considering how good this Thunder team is, giving them inherently avoidable opportunities is hardly a sound game plan for success.
If they can't find a way to take better care of the ball, it's safe to assume that this Suns team will handily be bested in a clean sweep.
Thunder winning offensive glass and turnover battle 'recipe for disaster'
To Suns cornerstone Devin Booker, the main areas of emphasis heading into Game 2 and beyond should be both in the turnover department and on the offensive glass.
Following Sunday's 119-84 rout out at Paycom Center, the All-Star laid in on the fact that Phoenix let up 17 turnovers and were out-rebounded 19 to 14 on the offensive end, which, to him, is unequivocally "a recipe for disaster" for Phoenix.
Unfortunately for him, the Thunder have been rather strong in both of these areas here in 2025-26, as they ranked second in steals (9.7) and opponent turnovers per game (16.7) during the regular season, while boasting a 31.3 percent offensive rebound percentage when starting bigs Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are both sharing the floor together.
Frankly, it also doesn't help that Phoenix ranked in as the ninth-worst team when it came to letting up offensive rebounds this year.
Unless they get starting pivot Mark Williams back in the fold (who has been sidelined with left foot soreness), one shouldn't expect to see the Suns somehow putting up more of a fight in halting OKC's offensive rebounding efficiency, as they place in the lowly 39 percentile in opponent offensive rebounding percentage with the 24-year-old out of the lineup.
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