PHOENIX — We talked about the Phoenix Suns needing to be near-perfect, and a big reason why is the Oklahoma City Thunder are led by a guy that is capable of achieving that on a nightly basis, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reached that ceiling in Sunday’s 121-109 Suns loss in Game 3.
Phoenix is now down 3-0 in the series and facing elimination on Monday.
There is a ruthlessness the best can untap, and we’ve seen it at Mortgage Matchup Center plenty over the last five years in the playoffs from visiting future Hall of Famers.
From Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Shaq-esque Finals to Luka Doncic embarrassing an entire franchise to Nikola Jokic’s unique dominance to Anthony Edwards’ savagery closing out a sweep, Gilgeous-Alexander picked up right where they left off.
The soon-to-be two-time MVP gave a statistical shoutout to his past mentor Chris Paul with a ridiculous 15-of-18 shooting line for 42 points with eight assists and three turnovers.
“He had us spinning,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said.
The 42 points tie the third-most points by a Suns opponent in the playoff history of the arena, joining Michael Jordan’s 42 in Game 2 of the 1993 NBA Finals and Antetkounmpo’s 42 in Game 2 of the 2021 NBA Finals, per Stathead. Doncic scorched Phoenix with 45 points in Game 1 of the 2022 conference semifinals and Jokic tallied 53 in Game 4 of the 2023 conference semifinals.
SGA’s 83.3% field goal percentage is the highest ever by a visiting player in Mortgage Matchup Center that took at least 15 shots in a playoff game.
His baseline jumper was unstoppable all afternoon, on one when he was without his running man Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain) and his best shooter (Isaiah Joe, personal reasons).
Gilgeous-Alexander did so in effortless style.
After a breakaway steal and layup through contact with over seven minutes left was essentially the dagger, he had more deathly blows to deliver.
Edwards’ climax in 2024 compared more to an act done with a vicious broadsword, and this from SGA was more of a stylish, violent dance with a katana.
He ripped Devin Booker at half-court for another fast break lay-in before a preposterous buzzer-beating fallaway over Brooks as the last slice. It turned into a performance of sorts.
Drop 42 PTS ✅ Shoot over 80% from the field ✅ Lead your team to victory ✅ Secure a 3-0 series lead in Round 1 ✅
SGA ? t.co/2xTaAARB7p pic.twitter.com/UlYfdZli4Z
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2026
These are, of course, the heights Suns fans want to see out of Booker. He’s proven capable in the past but it’s been a few years since we saw him at that type of elevation.
There is also a lack of clear-cut aggression for going out on his own terms that has gone missing as well.
The last gasp in the fourth quarter once again came from Dillon Brooks for the second straight game, all while Booker mostly deferred. He injured his left ankle in the third quarter and had a few possessions where he was involved before Brooks’ charge but he didn’t take a shot in the final six minutes.
Booker ended up 6-of-16 for 16 points with seven assists and two turnovers.
Brooks finished with 33 points (11-for-21) while Jalen Green added 26 points (8-for-19). Both had great days as shot-makers but the battle for Phoenix continues to be maintaining a rhythm of ball movement through the more individual-based play of those two. Booker can do both, which is why he has to take over.
“Ideally we want the ball to go side-to-side but Dillon and Jalen had it going a bit so attacking off the first collapse defense is what they’re doing,” Booker said.
The Suns made their biggest correction of the series, committing only 11 turnovers, including just three in the first half. The problem is they regressed elsewhere and still only forced eight out of OKC.
This was a bizarre downtick from the Suns on defense considering not only the stakes of the game but the momentum of the series getting more in their favor and who was out for the Thunder. The improvement from Games 1 to 2 was gone.
While Williams is about as complete of a two-way player as you can have as a second option on a contender, his absence loomed large for Oklahoma City’s spacing offensively as one of its top shooters. And its best one is Joe.
Outside of trade deadline acquisition Jared McCain, who played a dozen minutes in his first rotation role of the playoffs, that leaves Gilgeous-Alexander surrounded by average shooters. If Phoenix could replicate its Game 1 execution in helping off those threats to keep Gilgeous-Alexander contained, it would be in business.
Luguentz Dort, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, Alex Caruso and Jaylin Williams combined to shoot 11-for-31 (35.5%) from 3, about what you’d expect.
Phoenix’s rotations off the extra gravity toward SGA were poor. Dort and Mitchell each got Brooks to bite on a pump fake with his closeouts, resulting in good opportunities elsewhere. Dort also got Green to offer him a free baseline drive, which he took for a free dump-off pass to Isaiah Hartenstein. That can’t happen in the playoffs.
Mitchell and McCain looked cozy attacking off the dribble to get shots where they wanted, while Gilgeous-Alexander breezed through a mix of coverages and physicality to make up for the lack of team shooting, as the greats do.
And the Suns were their typical inefficient self. They shot 43.7% from the field and were 13-of-41 (31.7%) on 3s. That included a 2-for-8 mark from the returning Grayson Allen and 1-for-4 from Royce O’Neale. Phoenix finally reached 25 assists, hitting that on the dot.
This game was decided in the first half, and across a little under seven minutes of it.
OKC ripped off an 18-4 surge in the final 3:21 of the first quarter before closing the half on a 12-2 spurt in its last 3:32, adding up to a 30-6 Thunder advantage in 6:53.
“We’re gonna look back and want those 5-7 minutes back,” Ott said.
This negated a three-turnover half, a major cleanup job on the Suns’ biggest problem through two games, as well as another improvement with 13 assists. The Thunder were only up nine at the half but championship teams do not fumble that type of edge given to them.
“They’re big. Ending quarters is a big thing in this league and those are some things we got to find a way to take care of,” Brooks said. “And that obviously comes on our defense but it’s our shot selection and turnovers as well.”
Unrelated to that sense of finality, it took over the building three minutes into the second half when Booker injured his left ankle. Booker was setting a screen and trying to work his way around Dort but tripped over his leg. Dort has a long, long history of plays like this that look intentional but on replay it didn’t look like the type of over-extension he is prone to with his feet. If Suns fans feel they see the replay differently, that is understandable given his reputation.
Just over two minutes later, Booker emerged from the locker room and returned. He was obviously not moving well and was going to need his teammates to do the heavy lifting on the ball. Booker managed to immediately grab an offensive rebound and knock down a middy of that before a dive-and-kick by Brooks set Booker up for a gigantic 3-pointer that got Phoenix within six and forced a Thunder timeout.
Booker retained a lot of his movement a few minutes into that stretch, with some great possessions defending Gilgeous-Alexander.
Phoenix was down eight entering the fourth, a pivotal stretch to make up ground while SGA got his last rest. If there was ever a time for the peak levels of its defense to appear, this would be the time.
Instead, OKC’s points came too easy. It got an open 3 via an offensive rebound, a simple in-rhythm midrange turnaround for Holmgren, a finish at the rim off the dribble for Holmgren and two Hartenstein free throws for a loose ball foul before Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in four minutes later. He did so with the Thunder already in the bonus, and Phoenix had only managed six points on the other end.
On the MVP’s first possession, Wallace deflected a Booker pass that SGA picked up for a transition layup to put OKC ahead by 13 with 7:25 to go. The dagger before the two follow-up katana dice-ups.
Jordan Goodwin remained out for the Suns due to left calf soreness, as did Mark Williams for his nagging left foot. Williams presumably won’t play the rest of the series, while Goodwin seemed to be trending in the right direction to play on Saturday, so perhaps he would be available for Monday’s Game 4.
An aside before we depart: As someone born and raised in the city who cares about its standing as a basketball destination, this was a disappointing fan performance for the first home playoff game of the season.
There were chunks of empty seats throughout for over a full quarter and the intensity of the crowd represented a decently-energized regular season outing. Plenty of momentum shifts went in the Suns’ favor and by far the loudest the crowd got was during a near-failure of a tic-tac-toe game played by a fan during a timeout in the second quarter.
Booker’s 3 in the mid-third was specifically a moment where the fans should have gone bonkers for an eruption unmatched by any from the whole season. The final stand. Instead, it wouldn’t even rank in the top-50, a bizarre switch-up after the crowd certainly brought it for both play-in affairs.
I can get past the cool customers not putting their shirts on. However. Even with the slim chance the Suns had at making this a real series, a season that far exceeded expectations deserved better from its fans in essentially what was the game they had to win to keep their season alive. There are diehard fans that will respond about the affordability of these tickets, and that is more than fair.
But those showing up have to bring more to a postseason atmosphere, regardless of the fact that OKC’s building is a zoo and that the Suns had zero chance in this series. At least, if we want to maintain our reputation as a basketball city first.
Follow @KellanOlson
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