OKLAHOMA CITY — Anxiously waiting around a week, the reigning NBA champions started their hopeful back-to-back journey similar to last year. A complete demolition of an eighth-seed that entered on tired-out legs. The two-plus-hour game morphed into a party for the uniformed OKC crowd.
The Oklahoma City Thunder completely destroyed the Phoenix Suns in a 119-84 Game 1 win. They led by as many as 39 points and opened up the Round 1 series with a 1-0 lead.
Entering the game, the Suns tried to manifest a gigantic Game 1 upset. Dillon Brooks verbalized it in front of national TV. He then antagonized Chet Holmgren with trivial activities by refusing to give him the ball before tip-off. Alas, none of that could prevent the inevitable.
Running back last year's classic, the Thunder started their playoff journey with a bang. Any intrusive thoughts were erased. The Thunder had a 35-20 lead after the first quarter. To exemplify how much things were going their way, Jaylin Williams threw a Hail-Mary pass to Holmgren for a turnaround outside jumper at the buzzer. Boom.
While the Suns have been an upper one-third defense, the Thunder reminded them why they're in their own tier. In a flow state, they forced a turnover every other possession. Devin Booker was swarmed as soon as the ball reached his hands. Poking the ball out of Phoenix's possession, Jalen Williams threw up an alley-oop to Cason Wallace as the scoreboard escalated — ala the original 'Space Jam.'
The Thunder scored 30 points in the second quarter. They scored a dozen straight at one point to balloon their advantage. They entered halftime with a 65-44 lead. Sheesh. This game was already over. Anybody hoping to beat Superman must do a better job. In Game 1, the Suns couldn't even scratch them up as they were pummeled.
Aside from a couple of moments where the Suns got it to below 20 points, the Thunder stiff-armed them in the second half. All of Jalen Green's play-in tournament magic was gone. Brooks ensured Phoenix wouldn't get closer than 16 points in the second half as the ball was siphoned to him.
Struggling with his jumper, Gilgeous-Alexander leaned on getting to the free-throw line — something that folks swore wouldn't be possible in the NBA playoffs. The Thunder scored 32 points in the third quarter. They had a 97-66 lead at that juncture. The Suns' offense didn't even look recognizable or near an adequate NBA level.
After Brooks promised the Suns would steal Game 1, they were stumped at picking a lock. The fourth quarter turned inconsequential. Williams sliced his way through Phoenix's defense. Up 104-70 with seven minutes to go, the Thunder decided to clear their bench. They had 22 points in the final frame. Not even the Suns could pretty up the final score with garbage-time buckets.
The Thunder shot 45% from the field and went 14-of-46 (30.4%) from 3. They shot 21-of-23 on free throws. They had 28 assists on 42 baskets. Three Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 points and seven assists. Williams finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Holmgren had 16 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Suns shot 35% from the field and went 13-of-39 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 13-of-18 on free throws. They had 16 assists on 29 baskets. Three Suns players scored double-digit points.
Booker struggled with 23 points and six rebounds. Brooks was egged on to have 18 points on 22 shot attempts. Green was quiet with 17 points and five rebounds.
Well, couldn't have dreamed up a better start to the Thunder's 2026 NBA playoff journey. Even though these are supposed to be high-leverage games, they made this into a snoozefest. Relying on becoming a turnover-creating machine to run their opponent out of the gym, OKC forced Phoenix to cough it up an eye-popping 19 times for 34 points.
This was quite the punch in the mouth. But the Thunder won't let it fool them — they know how excruciatingly long a playoff series can be. Even if it's a David-Goliath situation like this Round 1 matchup is. Expect the Suns to play better from here on out. So far, OKC has taken care of business. It must do the same in Game 2 to get a real hold of this playoff matchup.
Bringing the ball up in the final seconds of a dynamic first half, Gilgeous-Alexander had Ryan Dunn in front of him. The reigning MVP crossed over the Phoenix defender to create enough space. He skinnied his way through a couple of more defenders inside the paint for the circus layup finish.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 25 points on 5-of-18 shooting, seven assists and four rebounds. He shot 0-of-4 from 3 and went 15-of-17 on free throws. He also had two blocks.
After over a week off, Gilgeous-Alexander's jumper betrayed him. He missed a handful of bunnies he usually makes in his sleep. Both on his pull-up and his drives to the rim. But like the last couple of years, he continues the bad trend of sleepwalking through their Round 1 series.
You don't morph into a 30-point scorer on purely buckets, though. You need to figure out how to hack the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander has mastered that. And its value was fully displayed here — even if it comes with its critiques. The Suns couldn't avoid fouling the drive-heavy scorer. He took an unreal 17 free-throw attempts by himself.
Each time Gilgeous-Alexander went to the free-throw line, the uniformed OKC crowd synchronized an MVP chant. He had 15 points in the first half. He added 10 more in the third quarter before he sat out the final frame. Reading the room, he didn't really force any shots. Instead, he enjoyed his fellow All-Star teammates picking up the load in this Game 1 bludgeoning.