Thunder Blow Out Suns, Booker: “They Want the Back-to-Back”

The Oklahoma City Thunder opened the NBA Playoffs with a dominant performance, crushing the Phoenix Suns 119-84 in Game 1 at Paycom Center. The reigning champions immediately imposed their pace, replicating the aggressive approach seen in last year’s postseason.

OKC became just the second team in history – alongside the 1986 and 1987 Los Angeles Lakers – to win the opening games of back-to-back playoff runs by at least 35 points.

The message was reinforced by Jalen Williams, who posted 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

We don’t go into games thinking about dominating, but about how hard we can play to set the tone. For ourselves – not even for the Suns – just setting a standard expected from the first guy to the fifteenth

Jalen Williams

The win was built primarily on defense, a trademark of the Thunder, who finished the regular season with the league’s best defensive rating for the second straight year. OKC turned 19 Suns turnovers into 34 points, creating a decisive gap.

A staggering stat came from points off turnovers: 34-2 in favor of the Thunder, the largest margin ever recorded in a playoff game in the play-by-play era. A level of dominance that completely dictated the game.

I’m sure they take regular-season games seriously, but they feel like this is the time. They want to do it again. Every time we fall behind, we can’t afford turnovers. I think that fuels everything – it fuels them, it fuels the crowd. It creates a domino effect

Devin Booker

Head coach Jordan Ott also pointed out the challenges posed by OKC’s physicality, athleticism, and length.

Every time you play them, you have to value the ball, value every possession, you have to get shots up – and we didn’t do that. Their physicality, their athleticism, their size, their length, and their players force you to constantly make good decisions and do it quickly. That’s definitely something we need to improve

Jordan Ott

The Suns, coming off a play-in win over the Golden State Warriors and playing less than 48 hours later, showed early promise before being completely overwhelmed by OKC, trailing by double digits for more than 38 minutes.

The Thunder led by 15 at the end of the first quarter, 21 at halftime, and 31 after the third, cruising through the final stretch. Team leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 25 points and 7 assists, resting in the fourth quarter.

The reigning MVP still kept the focus sharp:

They’re a little more tired, but we still have to do our job – go out there and win. They’ll get better as the series goes on. They have good players, they’re well coached, they play hard and the right way. So we have to be ready to improve too and expect a better team on the other side

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Despite the blowout, Game 1 is only the first step – and the Thunder know it. Meanwhile, the Suns are already under pressure to respond in the next games and avoid letting OKC run away with the series.