3 Takeaways From OKC Thunder's Big Offensive Night Against Phoenix Suns

Since the start of February, the Oklahoma City Thunder has been on a tear. A 34-point victory over the Sacramento Kings, a 29-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks and now, a 31-point blowout over the Phoenix Suns.

With a little bit of made history in the win column and another strong add to the resume of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's win Wednesday night was made a memorable one. Despite the 3-point shot not falling at a high rate, it still found a way to score big points.

With several splashes in the trade market over the past day, Oklahoma City kept its mind on taking down Phoenix. Newly added center Daniel Theis did not see action after being moved to the Thunder earlier in the day.

Here are three takeaways from the 140-109 win:

Another SGA Masterclass

Gilgeous-Alexander's 2024-25 campaign has been nothing short of spectacular. His performance against the Suns all but cemented his status as an MVP favorite.

Amid the guard's 50-point, eight-rebound and five-assist night on 18-of-29 shooting from the field, he made some history for himself. Gilgeous-Alexander became just the ninth player in NBA history to score 50-plus points in a seven-game span, as well as the first player in Oklahoma City history to score 50 points in under 35 minutes.

In the past seven games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging a whopping 40.7 points per game. Yet, he's only playing roughly 34 minutes a game during that stretch. The rhythm at which he's scoring is unparalleled across the NBA, and it's driving the Thunder to the makings of a special season.

For years it was rare that Gilgeous-Alexander ever scored more than 40 points, but that's completely flipped this year. Now the high scoring totals are going along with his averages, help enforcing as him potentially the most skilled scorer in the league.

The ridiculous numbers just keep coming, and there's no sign that it's stopping anytime soon.

Scoring Without 3-Pointers

With a high point total of 140, one might expect that the 3-point shot was falling for Oklahoma City. However, it only accounted for 36 of those points.

The Thunder shot just 12-of-42 from behind the arc as a team, which translates to a low 28.6%. Jaylin Williams shot a measly 0-of-7 off the bench, while Luguentz Dort and Alex Caruso's 1-of-5 each didn't help things get any better.

Instead, Oklahoma City found other ways to score the basketball. It stacked up its points in the paint with 62, while having an efficient 24-of-27 performance from the free-throw line. Even by winning the offensive rebounding battle 17-3, it allowed it to gain far more second chance opportunities.

Only turning the ball over six times compared to Phoenix's 22, taking care of the basketball also helped it kep ahold of poessions. the Suns conceded 23 points off turnovers, the Thunder only conceded four.

In nearly every area of its offensive game, Oklahoma City had a strong night. The 3-point shot was the sole outlier of the ounlaught, but in the end, it didn't matter in gaining a huge blowout win.

Winning Pace

With last night's win, the Thunder became the second team to reach 40 wins this season, bested by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The key different between both teams is that Oklahoma City did it before dropping its 10th game — just the 31st time that's happened in NBA history.

The Thunder improved its record to 40-9 after knocking off the Suns. The "40-20" rule is usually the benchmark when measuring a championship contender, but it has cleared that by a country mile. Oklahoma City is the Western Conference favorite, this offensive performance just established that even further.

The pace at which the Thunder is taking down its opponents this season hasn't been seen in years, and that's without Chet Holmgren for the majority of the year. It hasn't been fully healthy since the regular season began, so once it likely gets to be full strength in the playoffs, it'll be even more dangerous.

Reaching 70 wins is going to be unlikely at this point, but if Oklahoma City keeps winning at the rate it is now, it'll rank as one of the top regular season campaigns in franchise history. Potentially, it's a recipe for its first NBA Finals berth since 2012.

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