Gilgeous-Alexander Score 50, Okc Thunder Pummel Phoenix Suns of 31

On By Littum

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Oklahoma City – Phoenix Suns Is back to being a .500 team after Oklahoma City thoroughly disassembled them, 140-109, Wednesday on Thursday’s NBA trading deadline.

This was Phoenix’s most quirky loss this season.

This is not the case that the season should unfold for NBA’s first team of $ 400 million.

That’s why there was so hum about Jimmy Butler. Maybe he had moved the needle for Suns.

Suns instead missed Butler, who joined the Golden State in a multi-team trade on Wednesday and fell a third straight game before an audience of 17,451 at the Paycom Center.

Phoenix (25-25) led by as many as 12 points in the first half with hot 3-point shooting, but only took a two-point lead into the dressing room during the break. OKC closed half on a 16-6 burst.

Thunder (40-9) opened the second half on a 13-0 race as part of a 20-4 wave and never looked back. Okc Outscored Phoenix, 43-16, in the third quarter.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fell a 50-piece in 34 minutes by OKC’s second win over Suns this season. Bradley Beal pace Suns with 25 points from the bench, while Devin Booker added 19 points and committed six of the team’s 22 revenue.

Suns was without Kevin Durant due to a left ankle displacement that suffered in the fourth quarter of Monday’s overtime loss in Portland, but everyone else was available and they still pulled OKC with as many as 38 points.

Phoenix returns home to meet Utah (11-37) Friday. Here are takeaways from Wednesday’s game.

Perspective: From 2023 to 2025

Phoenix last lost with 30-Plus-Point 1 February 2023. Atlanta Hawks Blitzede Suns, 132-100, in the Footprint Center. They fell to 27-26 at the time.

Essentially a week later, New Suns team owner Mat Ishbia Durant landed in the Blockbuster deal, which sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and several first round elections for the nets.

They are now 25-25 after Wednesday’s 31-point defeat.

It’s crazy.

Suns has been on their third main coach since 2023, have continued to make great features to put them over NBA’s second taxpoint apron, have moved draft elections and have now limited guard flexibility.

They have gone beyond all-in, only to get under the championship goal. Now they are hardly a play-in team.

Oklahoma City’s record through 53 games in the 2022-23 season was 25-28, after a 141-114 loss in Golden State. Thunder has grown from it to a team of 40 wins in 49 games this season.

Thunder is stuck with coach Mark Daignnult. They developed their players, starting with Gilgeous-Alexander and down the line. Three of their five starters in the 2023 loss to Golden State started Wednesday against Phoenix: Jalen Williams, now an all-star; Aaron Wiggins, who scored 17 points Wednesday; And Gilgeous-Alexander, who was a ridiculous plus-42 against Suns.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who heads the league in the scoring, is now a top MVP candidate who leads NBA’s best team. He is the ultimate shot and has “manipulated” the game with his ability to draw mistakes, as Beal said, but Thunder is not a one-man show.

They worked out well, made strategic schedules and rolls despite being NBA’s youngest team that went into the 2024-25 season.

Suns are 15.5 games behind them and 10Th In the West. As ugly as the loss was, the thunder is the superior team. They just showed it stuck in the second half.

The process that led each team to the place they stand today is fascinating on several levels.

Suns live and die of 3

Suns cooked in the first half with 60.5% shooting and went 10-of-22 from 3.

It is in the process of generating 40-plus attempts. It is right in Suns coach Mike Budenholzer’s desired range, but they should have had a bigger lead than two during the break.

Enter revenue.

Suns committed 11 in the first half that led to 11 OKC points.

Phoenix cooled the second half and shoots a gloomy 1-of-15 from the field and went 0-of-5 from 3, but the thunder started hot with the 13-0 race with light shots in the track.

It’s a recurring theme that Suns just doesn’t seem to solve. They committed 22 revenue that led to 23 OKC points for the game and gave 17 offensive rebounds Thunder turned into 18 points.

In order for Budenholzer to say that the third quarter was not about efforts is a main scraper.

He can chalk it up to lack of shots, but OKC overtime over worked his team and played with an energy, power and pace that Suns could not match.

Booker called OKC a “well -oiled machine” before the game and gave them great praise postgame. Suns simply has no answer to the younger, more active thunder, especially with Durant out.

Big piece is missing, but OKC has been without Chet Holmgren for most of the season with a pelvic fracture. He played in only 10 games, but Thunder has not missed a beat.

Would the butler have made Suns better?

Phoenix certainly thought it because it continued to try to land Butler despite the heat suspending him on every turn. Any other team could have thought, Nah, we’re good, but Suns are not good.

As seriously, they are not good. They really are what their record is – at best.

Phoenix has not shown elasticity when things go south. Suns takes place in the seams and doesn’t know how to roll it back to give himself a chance to gather at the end.

Perhaps Butler would have treated the mental composition of the sunshine, but he would not uniformly solve revenue, the bad defense and rebounding.

Budenholzer insists he believes in the group and that “things can change quickly.”

They only have 32 games left in the regular season. Currently, Phoenix doesn’t look like it’s able to turn the season like a switch.

Suns look more like a team that will continue to show flashes of good basketball, as Tyus Jones said, only to the past and make one wonder how they lost by such a resounding margin when they have these players and have spent this a lot of money.

Maybe they are just who they are and have been all the time and it has become so obvious, it can not be ignored anymore.

What Suns said after loss

Mike Budenholzer at Suns can be corrected: “I think if you lean into the first half and how we played too much parts, if that, I think we’ve talked about some throughout the year do it for 48 minutes . To find sustainability both ends of the court. We just need to continue pushing, keeping working. “

Devin books about difference between 8-1 Suns and now: “I always said at the start of the season we pushed past. It was still not the type of winnings you like to see. They could have gone both ways by walking down the stretch. If we beat teams and sat in the 4th quarter, that’s another thing, but it came down to hard shot in the 4th quarter. We have to be better than that. “

Tyus Jones about having players in the middle of the trade negotiations: “As much as you want to say that everyone is blocking it, everyone sees it, everyone hears it. It’s around, but at the same time you’re trying to lock in. “

Bradley Beal about mentality after Jimmy Butler landed in Golden State via trade: “Nothing changed for me. My mentality is the same, whether someone is here, someone is not here. Whether I’m here, whether I’m not here. My mentality will always be the same, stay true to who I am. Maybe it puts people calmly. I didn’t think about it. To take everything one day at a time. When I was contacted with something, the conversation would be. “

Do you have opinions about the current sunshine? Well Suns Insider Duane Rankin on [email protected] Or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, on @Duanerankin.

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