The undermanned Phoenix Suns face a very difficult challenge tonight as they continue their road trip against the NBA’s No. 1 defense and Western Conference leader Oklahoma City Thunder in an NBA up matchup.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Phoenix (9-3) will once again be without Kevin Durant (left calf strain) and Bradley Beal (left calf strain). Grayson Allen (right hamstring soreness) and Jusuf Nurkić (left ankle sprain) are questionable. The Suns were without Durant, Beal and Allen against the Sacramento Kings in their last game Wednesday and lost by double digits for the first time all season, getting blown out 127-104.
The Thunder have their own injury bug with Alex Caruso (right hip soreness), Chet Holmgren (right iliac wing fracture), Isaiah Hartenstein (left hand fracture) and Jaylin Williams (right hamstring strain) all out.
Last game against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Thunder rolled out a starting lineup of all guards of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe. Gilgeous-Alexander, listed at 6-foot-6, was the tallest player in the lineup with all three of OKC’s centers sidelined. Oklahoma City, who leads the league with a 12.7 average margin of victory, still ended up dominating with a 106-88 victory.
Tonight will be Oklahoma City’s first NBA Cup game, while the Suns lead Group C with a 1-0 record after defeating the Utah Jazz earlier this week. The Los Angeles Lakers (0-0), who won the inaugural NBA Cup last season, are the other team in the group with the Suns, Thunder and Jazz.
The Suns will be facing an uphill battle once again with their injuries. Here are some keys to the game if Phoenix wants to pull off the victory:
Limiting turnovers, no stagnant offense
The Thunder lead the league in steals at 12.3 and force the most turnovers in the NBA at a ridiculous 20.2 per game. With Booker being the only primary scorer in the Suns lineup right now, the Thunder can mix up all kinds of defense against him, just as the Kings did.Â
Phoenix will have to navigate around this, and it has done a great job of keeping the turnovers down as of late. Because of how sound the Thunder are defensively, this will be a good test to see just how good the Suns offense is, especially in taking care of the ball with injuries stacked up.
No drastic difference in shooting numbers
On Wednesday, Kings shot 50-for-78 (64.1%) from the floor and 15-for-28 (53.6%) from 3. Comparatively, the Suns shot 36-for-97 (37.1%) as a team and were 13-for-43 (30.2%) from 3. This was the Suns’ lowest field goal and 3-point percentage in a game so far this year and the highest field goal and 3-point percentage allowed to an opponent.
Phoenix simply cannot afford to have these kind of drastic numbers against a team like the Thunder who do all of the little things right.
The Suns might ultimately have to shoot lights out in order to win tonight.
Win the paint
With how small OKC is without its three centers, Phoenix should dominate inside. The Suns had a season-high 19 offensive rebounds against the Kings and the Thunder allow the most rebounds in the NBA at 50.0 per game.
There is a big opportunity for the Suns to impose their will on the glass, but this area still might be tough against OKC’s five-out offense. Offensively, it could lead to some rhythm for Phoeni if it’s able to get easy buckets in the paint.
Local Game Information
Start Time: 6:00 p.m. MST
Location: Paycom Center
TV Channel: AZ Family/3TV, NBATV
Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, La Mejor 106.5 FM
Stream: Suns Live
https://twitter.com/Suns/status/1857450814559658334
Betting Odds (DraftKings)
Line: OKC -7.5
O/U:Â 228
Injury Report
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
