Suns have simple adjustments to make for Game 2 vs. Thunder ...Middle East

OKLAHOMA CITY — The best adjustment is playing better, and for the fascination with that word around this time of year in the NBA, it’s a worthwhile reminder that natural improvement trumps shrewd tactical maneuvers.

That should be the message to the Phoenix Suns ahead of Wednesday’s Game 2 in Oklahoma City against the Thunder, following a 35-point shellacking in Game 1, a contest that was realistically over within 18 minutes.

The 25-point lead that early for the Thunder was magnified by three Suns issues: rebounding, turnovers and missed shots.

To start, Oklahoma City obviously deserves credit for the factor it played in that trio of areas. It is the class of the league and defending champs for a reason.

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But Phoenix could just, you know, play better.

While seven OKC offensive rebounds in the first quarter led to even more shouting from the rooftops calling for the Suns to play bigger lineups involving their rookies, none of these were primarily due to a lack of size. It was either bad bounces or bad fundamentals from a Phoenix player.

Here are OKC’s 7 offensive rebounds from the first quarter yesterday. The primary blame for none of them is a lack of size. All of them are either bad bounces or mistakes by the Suns, whether that’s not finding a body or everyone crashing. Easy improvement point for G2. pic.twitter.com/rXTtd3M7ia

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 20, 2026

Oklahoma City was 28th in offensive rebounding rate across the regular season, and it was crashing with more regularity to take advantage of a Suns weakness. Whether this was Phoenix getting caught off-guard or just not executing properly, that is easy to clean up.

So are some of the turnovers.

And the 5 turnovers. First 2 a lack of feel for the matchup. Chet is ahead of most bigs on that recovery, as is J-Dub in fighting over that screen. Then you’ve just got Brooks mishandling the ball, Booker getting stuck in no man’s land and Dunn bobbling the pass. Easy to correct. pic.twitter.com/DakOSkktxk

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 20, 2026

The difference here is this comes as a byproduct of what the Thunder do best. But of the five in the first quarter, the first two are a lack of familiarity with the matchup and not respecting two elite defenders. Chet Holmgren recovers quicker than most and Jalen Williams eludes screens better than most.

The final three are Dillon Brooks mishandling the ball, Devin Booker driving into no man’s land (with an open and screened-for Collin Gillespie in the corner and without an open passing lane to get the ball there) and then Ryan Dunn bobbling a pass.

Spacing is a huge part of all those turnovers as well. Gillespie really emphasized off-ball movement on Tuesday as an absolute must given how much OKC’s help defenders extend away from their man. The four guys off the ball have to be engaged and active.

Lastly, a nearly 12-minute stretch of gametime during which the Suns shot 3-of-20 included some shots they are either fine with or we are using to seeing them take (and make sometimes).

Most of the misses from the 3-for-20 spurt. We can talk about shot quality for some but those are the shots the Suns have gotten by on throughout the year. A few missed passing opportunities as well, obviously. Point is, with respect to the best in OKC, Suns can be much better. pic.twitter.com/2xIGqeElNs

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 20, 2026

Brooks and Jalen Green have been tough shot-makers all year. The quality of look isn’t high, and that hasn’t stopped them all year.

There are also some missed passes in there, like Booker’s shot blocked by Holmgren that should have been a wraparound dump-off for Oso Ighodaro, or any number of Brooks possessions.

Head coach Jordan Ott said after the loss the Suns can’t iso in this matchup, but Brooks on Tuesday noted he will still iso. His short answer and “next question” ending to it were both unique to how he typically speaks with the media, so I’m sure he understood this bullet point is directly about him.

The team-wide philosophy is there. So if you see any isolation, know that is not the plan.

“Definitely something that we can’t do against them,” Gillespie said. “They have really good defenders. They play great team defense. They move as one. They’re always on a string, so we have to be like that on offense. Just move as a string when guys are dribbling the ball. There’s gonna be situations where isos happen but we have to be able to move off the ball to give those guys help.”

So, again, the Suns can just be better. If they were, this would have at least been a competitive first half and maybe whole game depending on how Phoenix settled in. It never could however, because of itself.

This is not to say the Suns will be better, of course. These major offensive funks over a handful of minutes mixed with the Thunder’s propensity for explosive runs was an equation for a comfortable OKC sweep. We’ll see if Phoenix can find it and if that catches the Thunder off-guard.

Pretty good work on the MVP, though!

Phoenix’s best work came while defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The MVP shot 5-of-18, his least efficient day of the season.

Phoenix mixed in different coverages as you’d expect, with Ighodaro playing a higher-up drop so Gilgeous-Alexander couldn’t walk into middies, and then there was full switching done at times as well.

Help defenders were extremely attentive while also spending some possessions allowing teammates defend on an island. Gilgeous-Alexander will look back at some of these misses seeing some shots he normally converts on, and at the same time, Phoenix should feel good about the defense it played.

Solid job by the Suns on SGA in Game 1. Here are most of the misses. SGA will like a few of these looks but 4 of his 5 field goals came off transition or an offensive rebound. The issue was OKC grabbed 5 of SGA’s 13 misses. pic.twitter.com/19gzH43b65

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 21, 2026

Of SGA’s five field goals, four came in transition or via an offensive rebound.

This was the fifth.

SGA FOR TWO WITH STYLE ?

Drive. Stop. Steer. Score.

Thunder lead by 21 at the break in Game 1! pic.twitter.com/NTZ1FdFWRU

— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2026

Not much you can do about that.

Phoenix’s help defense was, for the most part, solid in its choices. Gilgeous-Alexander is a willing passer off his gravity, even when he’s giving it up to a mediocre shooter.

Also a good job on the shots they gave up when extending help toward SGA. J-Dub corner 3 is the only one I’d really take issue with. pic.twitter.com/NwcjZe6ymP

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 21, 2026

The Jalen Willians open corner 3 is the only one surrendered to an above average catch-and-shoot guy. The Suns will live with the rest.

“I think we did a good job. … Shrink the floor, make their non-shooters shoot the ball,” Brooks said.

Here is a good and bad example of the mistakes that SGA’s gravity can force.

On this 3-pointer, you can hear Brooks shouting either for Booker to go get Dort in the corner or he’s just letting him know Dort is drifting away. Booker on three separate occasions prior to that peeks to see where Dort is, so he’s aware of the commitment he is making, and just goes for the double-team. Brooks gets a solid contest out there, and since it’s an average shooter getting it off, that’s a more than fine result.

But off a Suns miss, Gillespie picks up Gilgeous-Alexander, and Brooks goes all the way to the other side of the half-circle to cut him off at the rim. I don’t even know if Brooks even looked anywhere else the whole time. That leaves Alex Caruso wide-open underneath, which is the more type of ill-advised attention, and perhaps was Green’s rotation to make down low (on a day he defended well overall).

The Suns shouldn’t feel hosed on Gilgeous-Alexander’s 15-for-17 mark on free throws. Once more, this felt controllable. All four of his shooting fouls drawn in the first quarter/half were a case of Phoenix putting its hands in spots where he could do the rest. Two came on drives he’s going to get called every time and two came on aggressive shot contests.

In the second half, he got both Royce O’Neale and Ighodaro to foul him as he was shooting just three minutes in. A few minutes later, Brooks got a bad one off the ball and then Booker’s came on an offensive rebound and-1 before Gillespie hedging a switch led to SGA bumping into his chest for two more free tosses.

That’s it. All 17 of his free throws. SGA will force his way to the line with relentless drives and then also benefit from some lighter calls but Sunday’s mix felt more like things the Suns could just do better.

Brooks said at least half of those were Phoenix’s own fault and Ott correctly called them silly.

If Jordan Goodwin, listed as questionable after not returning on Sunday due to a re-aggravation of his left calf, can’t go in Game 2, Phoenix should turn away from its lineup at the start of the second half that went with O’Neale. Gilgeous-Alexander hunted him on a switch for the opening two possessions en route to great looks, before bizarrely turning away from it the rest of the way. OKC will not be as laissez faire to begin Game 2 on Wednesday if O’Neale is in.

The best answer is Gillespie. While he’s undersized and would still become a target defensively, Gillespie can at least move his feet to deny drives to the rim every possession, unlike O’Neale.

There will be shouts for Ryan Dunn or Rasheer Fleming, but Oklahoma City’s help defense is so pristine that it can ace rotations off those non-factors offensively to force Phoenix into giving them the ball. We saw how that went for Dunn and Haywood Highsmith in Game 1.

Of course, if Grayson Allen can actually play after two straight “available” designations yielded zero minutes, he becomes the best solution. Allen is once more listed as questionable, so he presumably will be available. The wait will then be to see if he checks in or not.

If Allen and Goodwin both can’t go, the harsh reality of the best option is Booker, Brooks and Green playing extended minutes for as long as this game is competitive.

Booker might have to play nearly the whole first half. Ott described his defensive performance on Sunday as “fantastic,” and he’s spot on. He’s had terrific two-way performances in the playoffs before, most notably in 2023. The Suns will require one of those on Wednesday.

How about their turnovers?

For all that has been made about the Suns’ 19 turnovers that helped result in a 34-2 Thunder edge in points off turnovers, Phoenix only forced eight giveaways on the other end.

If that number is in single digits, the Suns have to play perfect in every other facet to have a chance. That was their identity on defense. They were fourth in steals during the regular season, just behind the Thunder in third. Steals on Sunday were 13-3 Thunder.

OKC takes care of the rock better than anyone. It led the NBA in turnover percentage back-to-back years. Last postseason in 23 games, the Thunder committed 11 or fewer turnovers in a dozen of those fixtures.

The Suns have to find a way to turn this into their style of havoc.

“Physicality, be in the right positions when they’re driving and trying to kick it out and then heating their bigs when they have the ball to make them drivers,” Brooks said of how they can force more turnovers.

“They’re elite at it,” Ott said of OKC’s ball management. “Multiple ball-handlers on the floor, they have really good spacing but we’ve been able to do it against them. … Goody is a big piece of that. I think our crowds and how active we are in crowds. We just gotta get some juice and energy back.”

If they keep letting OKC get multiple shots on one possession while not triggering pace off steals and blocks, Wednesday will be another rout. Blocks aren’t scored as a turnover but blocked shots recovered by the defensive team might as well count as one, in terms of an ability to play in transition. Blocks were 7-2 Thunder.

“We could play a little bit faster. Defensively, we had some good possessions and some good things that we saw but then it just happened to be where we they got the offensive rebound and we didn’t finish with limiting them to one shot,” Gillespie said. “Stuff like that hurts.”

A small detail Ott highlighted was “we gotta get to our outlets faster” offensively in the half-court, meaning the passes to eject from a situation in which OKC stays put in help to fully cut off angles for the ball-handler.

“We just gotta be a little bit more perfect in our initial spacing initially in our spacing and then after that initial pass,” Ott said.

Perfect, indeed.

Follow @KellanOlson

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