After a brief break for All-Star Weekend, the Phoenix Suns are back home at the Footprint Center. The second half of the season is underway, and the Oklahoma City Thunder will be first up for Phoenix.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Though the Thunder aren’t a part of the playoff picture, the young squad has been known to give contenders a rough time on multiple occasions.
The Suns were able to keep the Thunder at bay during the first half, leading 65-60 at halftime.
Making it Count From the Free Throw Line
The Suns haven’t been known to capitalize on freebies this season. Coming into Friday, Phoenix was averaging 21.5 attempts from the free throw line for the season.
The Suns were able to attempt 20 in just the first half alone. There was a vast difference in attempts compared to the Thunder, who only managed 10 for the half.
How the Suns go about their offensive schematics will certainly change as Durant returns. Being able to achieve a higher level of drawing contact as Durant fairly does will only make Phoenix better in the long haul.
Okogie Continues Starter Campaign
There’s a must-answer question approaching as to which player will make the cut into the starting rotation. As it stands, Josh Okogie has once more cemented that decision for most fans.
Okogie was able to put up 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field during the first half, leading the Suns in scoring.
He also grabbed three rebounds, one of which was an offensive board. Okogie has been a patch for some of the Suns’ inconsistencies this season, rebounding being a primary aspect.
When he wasn’t doing the aforementioned, he was finding easy feeds for Ayton at the rim, a nod to his playmaking abilities.
Phoenix could very well deploy a starting unit of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Durant and Okogie.
