Suns-Thunder takeaways: There doesn't appear to be an answer for SGA
Let's break down the key elements of the Thunder's Game 2 victory Wednesday night.
The No. 1 seed in the West did No. 1 seed things.
The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Phoenix Suns 120-107 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series. The Thunder led by as many as 26, but the Suns — powered by 30 points from Dillon Brooks — cut the lead to 10 late in the fourth quarter. But that’s how good OKC is.
The lead stayed double-digits despite the team losing Jalen Williams to a hamstring injury and the game was never really in doubt as OKC closed things out. Here are the key takeaways for a Thunder win in which they look very tough to beat: SGA remains a difficult puzzle to solve It's apparent the Suns’ primary, secondary and tertiary defensive order of operations are centered around slowing down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The reigning league and Finals MVP, one of the most efficient scorers in recent NBA history, is seeing a swarm of bodies on seemingly every turn and catch of the ball.
Phoenix, one of the league’s most proficient turnover-causing teams, displayed a number of different defensive approaches on SGA — switching, pressuring and even reverting to a box-and-1 — in attempts to keep Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring at bay, but it was to no avail. Outside of a few early misses, the bulk of which were good looks, Gilgeous-Alexander had his way with the Suns, using his random, jittery motion to keep Phoenix off-balance and finishing with a game-high 37 points. The Suns’ best chance at guarding SGA, Dillon Brooks, was routinely switched off.