{"id":414553,"date":"2026-04-28T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/414553\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:37:15","slug":"4-takeaways-thunder-sweep-suns-out-of-the-playoffs-in-game-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/414553\/","title":{"rendered":"4 takeaways: Thunder sweep Suns out of the playoffs in Game 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder sweep a third-straight first-round opponent.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/p>\n

There has been at least one first-round sweep in each of the last 23 postseasons and, appropriately, it was the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder that kept that streak alive. Every other team is still playing and the other No. 1 seed is down 3-1<\/a>, but the Thunder took care of business in their first-round series<\/a> against the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

Game 4 was the closest, but it was never in doubt after the Thunder ended the first half on a 27-12 run, scoring those 27 points on just 11 offensive possessions. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his thing (31 points and eight assists), his teammates shot well, and the Thunder cruised to a 131-122 victory<\/a> in Phoenix on Monday.<\/p>\n

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference semifinals for the third straight year:<\/p>\n

1. The Thunder are offensive<\/p>\n

This was the Thunder\u2019s worst offensive season of the last three, as they scored just 2.8 more points per 100 possessions than the league average, down from +5.6 in 2024-25. But, despite losing Jalen Williams (again) in Game 2, they were incredibly efficient over these last nine days against the Suns\u2019 top-10 defense.<\/p>\n

With the Thunder scoring 126.9 points per 100 possessions over the four games, it was, by a wide margin, their best offensive series of the seven they\u2019ve played over the last three years. They shot no better than 35% from 3-point range over the first three games<\/a>, but took care of the ball and gave themselves plenty of second chances with their work on the offensive glass.<\/p>\n

Turnovers finally became an issue in Game 4, but the champs made up for it with their best shooting game of the series: 54% from the field, including 17-for-34 (50%) from 3-point range, and 26-for-30 (87%) from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you play ahead of the defense, you move it early, and guys step into shots with confidence,\u201d said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, \u201cyou give yourself a chance to have a night like tonight. \u201d<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander got his 31 points, with some ridiculous buckets<\/a> included. But he also made the right reads when the Suns zoned up against his isolations, and his teammates rewarded him:<\/p>\n

\"Shai<\/p>\n

In the first quarter, the Thunder scored 33 points over a stretch of 19 possessions. They finished the second with 27 on 11. The offense slowed down a bit on the third, but still had a stretch of 17 points on eight trips down the floor. They weren\u2019t getting a lot of stops on defense, but it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

2. Thunder flourish with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench<\/p>\n

For as long as Williams is out (and even if\/when he comes back), the Thunder offense will be under the microscope when Gilgeous-Alexander isn\u2019t in the game. Things did not go well in that regard in Game 3, when Oklahoma City scored just 20 points on 19 offensive possessions with the MVP on the bench.<\/p>\n

Game 4 was a much different story. Not counting their 24-second violation in the closing seconds, the Thunder scored 31 points on 19 offensive possessions with Gilgeous-Alexander off the floor, shooting 11-for-17, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

The scoring was balanced, with five of Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s teammates scoring at least five points in those 10 minutes that he sat. But the offense ran through Ajay Mitchell, who had a much more efficient night (22 points on 7-for-16 shooting) than he did on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Chet Holmgren was the other guy who played the entirety of those minutes that Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, and the Thunder used the Mitchell-Holmgren pick-and-roll to get the Phoenix defense in rotation:<\/p>\n

\"Chet<\/p>\n

The non-Gilgeous-Alexander minutes might not ever be this good again; That effective field goal percentage of 76% is unsustainable. But Mitchell is just getting started with his playoff career, having logged just 84 total minutes in last year\u2019s postseason. So he\u2019s being thrown into the fire right now, his game-to-game development is critical, and those 10 minutes on Monday were important in regard to the Thunder\u2019s ability to repeat.<\/p>\n

3. Booker and Suns find some answers, but not enough<\/p>\n

Though the Thunder had their best offensive performance of the series, Game 4 wasn\u2019t under wraps until the final minute, because the Suns were nearly efficient against the league\u2019s No. 1 defense.<\/p>\n

Devin Booker remained the focus of the Thunder\u2019s defensive game plan and simply could not break free in the first two quarters. He went into halftime with two points and five turnovers, having shot 0-for-3 from the field.<\/p>\n

But the Suns still had an efficient half, because Dillon Brooks did some work in isolation and they found those weak-side 3-pointers that the Thunder will yield:<\/p>\n

\"Dillon<\/p>\n

Booker finally got going in the second half, getting a couple of buckets in transition because the Thunder committed a slew of turnovers. Running a pick-and-roll toward the empty side of the floor (instead of toward more defenders) also worked:<\/p>\n

\"Devin<\/p>\n

He finished with 24 points, his high for the series. But it was still his lowest scoring (21.3 points per game) and third least efficient (true shooting percentage of 56.4%) of the 10 he played in. There\u2019s not a lot you can do when you\u2019re the primary focus of one of the best defensive teams of your lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur coverages were pretty good on him,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cHe was out there trying to make the right play. He was playing basketball the right way, playing for his teammates. We were showing him bodies and he was making reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur game plan just worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Suns were a whole new team this season<\/p>\n

The Suns were the only team that was swept out of this first round, but this season still ends on a much higher note than the last one. In fact, the Suns made us quickly forget how disappointing their 2024-25 season was, somehow becoming a better team after parting ways with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.<\/p>\n

The offense took a step backward, but it was just a small one. And the Suns were the second most improved defensive team in the league, allowing 4.8 fewer points per 100 possessions than they did last season. Improvement came with the league\u2019s biggest jump in opponent turnover rate and its second biggest drop in opponent 3-point percentage.<\/p>\n

Most important is that the Suns established a new identity under first-year head coach Jordan Ott. They don\u2019t have the talent of most other Western Conference playoff teams, but they quickly figured out how to win games. Consistent aggressiveness on defense and on the offensive glass gets you more shots than your opponent and a lot of regular season wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discipline and organization on both sides of the ball,\u201d Daigneault said of the Suns, \u201cwas impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the Phoenix core is under contract for next season, though point guard Collin Gillespie (unrestricted) and center Mark Williams (restricted) are free agents this summer, and the Suns do not have a first-round pick in this year\u2019s Draft. They can certainly hope for continued improvement and better health for the 24-year-old Jalen Green, who played in only 32 regular season games, though it\u2019s fair to wonder how well he fits alongside Booker long-term.<\/p>\n

While the Suns\u2019 season is over, the Thunder will wait on the winner of the Lakers-Rockets series, with L.A. up 3-1 and having the opportunity to close it out at home on Wednesday (10 ET, ESPN<\/a>).<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find his\u00a0archive here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0follow him on Bluesky.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder sweep a third-straight first-round opponent. \u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App There has been at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105,195714],"class_list":["post-414553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports","tag-suns-thunder-game-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}