Suns Host Thunder in Return to Action
Who: Oklahoma City Thunder at Phoenix Suns
When: Friday, Feb. 23 at 8:00 MST
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
Spread (via SI Sportsbook): Suns -8
Phoenix Suns basketball is back.
The team returns to action after a short break from All-Star weekend, and though excitement will still be fairly high here in the Valley, some of the air was sucked out of the building after Kevin Durant (who was speculated to make his return tonight) was ruled out and will be on a "game-by-game" basis according to Suns coach Monty Williams.
SUNS INJURY REPORT
- Kevin Durant (MCL)- OUT
- Cameron Payne (foot)- QUESTIONABLE
- Landry Shamet (foot)- OUT (set to be reevaluated in a week)
Phoenix will play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are playing their second night of a back-to-back after losing an overtime thriller to the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.
OKC, sitting at 28-30, are the West's No. 11 seed but are just three games back from Phoenix (32-28) at No. 5.
The Thunder are one of the better offensive teams in the league, as their 117.9 points per night ranks fourth in the NBA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City in scoring with 31 points per night, good enough to be top five in the league. Other top scorers for OKC are Josh Giddey (16.3), Lu Dort (13.9) and Jalen Williams (12.1).
Giddey leads the Thunder in rebounds (7.8) and assists (5.8) while Gilgeous-Alexander paces the team in seals (1.6) and blocks (1.1) per night.
The Suns hope to find success down low in the paint, as Oklahoma City allows the most rebounds per game to opponents with 46.7. They also rank in the bottom ten of points allowed per night.
Tonight will be the first of four matchups between the two squads.
