Dillon Brooks | OKC Topic Thunder

#8 Phoenix Suns (0-1) vs. #1 Oklahoma City Thunder (1-0)
When: Wednesday, 22 April 2026 at 8:30pm CST
Where: Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, OK
TV: ESPN
Series Record: OKC leads 1-0

The Tip-Off

With 8:05 left in the first quarter, Phoenix held a 12-9 lead and had a little momentum in the early going of the game. The jump shots were falling on their end and the Thunder were missing on the other end. If the Suns were going to steal a game, this is the recipe that would need to be used.

Then Jalen Williams happened.

An open three off a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kickout. Then an immediate steal and transition dunk off a Jalen Green turnover and the Thunder held their first lead of the game. A lead, they would never relinquish. A couple possessions later, Dillon Brooks tried to physically back Dub down, but was met with equal physicality and lost the ball, which popped up right into the waiting arms of Chet Holmgren. And, as Brooks is prone to do, he swiped in the direction of the ball, but caught Holmgren’s face. The ref reviewed it, hit Brooks with a Flagrant-1, and Holmgren hit four free throws (two from the flagrant and then two on a subsequent foul on the offensive possession). By the end of the first quarter, OKC held a 15-point lead.

If you are going to come back on OKC, though, the time to do it is when SGA is sitting on the bench. And that usually occurs in the first six minutes of the 2nd quarter and first six minutes of the fourth quarter (if the game is close enough (wink!)). So there was a little ray of hope for Phoenix (see what I did there?) heading into the 2nd quarter.

Then Jaylin Williams happened.

The Thunder led 37-23 when Jaylin Williams checked into the game for Isaiah Hartenstein. For the next 4.5 minutes, J-Will put on a defensive clinic, the likes we’ve never seen from Williams. In that time span, J-Will had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and 2 points. That 14-point lead ballooned up to 23 by the time Williams sat back down with 6:01 left in the quarter. It was pretty much game after that…all on the back of two guys with the initials J. Williams.

Betting Info, presented by FanDuel

Line: OKC -17.5
O/U: 215.5

Injury Report

OKC

Thomas Sorber – OUT (knee/ACL)

PHX

Grayson Allen – Questionable (hamstring)
Jordan Goodwin – Questionable (calf)
Mark Williams – Questionable (foot)

Three Big Things

0-0 Mentality – I know this is the Thunder’s mantra. And they seem to be living by it 100% of the time. But we also know that human nature is real. And the possibility of letting up after demolishing a team while your best player has a subpar game is there. We kind of saw that in the Memphis series last postseason. OKC won the first game by 51 points and then won the second game by 19. But in Game 3, Memphis came out like an injured animal with their back against the wall and had the Thunder down by 29 points before Ja Morant left the game with an injured hip. It took a historic comeback in the second half for OKC to escape with a narrow victory in that game. By Game 4, Memphis kind of started to figure out the Thunder’s Rubik’s cube, even without Morant, and gave the Thunder a helluva game, losing by only two in the series clincher for OKC. There are many lessons that can be gleaned from last year’s postseason run, and these may be two of the most important ones: Sometimes your toughest opponent is complacency and you can’t take your margin of victory from the last game Linto the next game.
SGA – OKC won by 35 despite SGA having shooting splits of 28/0/88. We used to make fun of Kyle Singler for having a shooting split total under 100, and SGA nearly did that in this game. With all that said, Phoenix was being physical with him and was sending doubles at various points in the game. But the evolution of SGA’s game is that he also had 7 assists and 0 turnovers. If “the others” are making enough shots and the defense is up to the Thunder standard, there may not be a necessity for a hyper-efficient SGA game.
Take Care of Business – While the series on the other side of the bracket are both tied at 1 game apiece, the Lakers are taking care of business against the Rockets on OKC’s side of the bracket. The hope was that the 4/5 matchup would be a 6 or 7 game series, but the reality is this Kevin Durant-led team appears to be heading down the path most Durant-led teams have gone, and that’s implosion. A Lakers sweep would give them time to rest, heal up, and be ready for the second round. Not that it worries me that much, but making sure that OKC gets the same amount of time to rest up would be beneficial.

Houston Rockets (25-32, 12th in the West) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (40-17, 2nd in the West)
When: Tuesday, 27 February 2024 at 9:00pm CST
Where: PayCom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Offensive Rating – HOU: 112.8 (24th) / OKC: 119.6 (3rd)
Defensive Rating – HOU: 112.8 (8th) / OKC: 111.4 (4th)
Net Rating – HOU: -0.1 (18th) / OKC: 8.2 (2nd)

The Set-Up

I’ve never solved the puzzle that is the Rubik Cube. I try and then eventually just give up. And I’ve never really done a deep dive into how to solve it either. But to some people, the Rubik Cube became an obsession. They researched it, spoke to people who had solved it before, and kept trying. Eventually, they figured the trick to the Cube and solved it. Now, you have people that can solve a Rubik Cube in less than a minute.

This season has been a lot like the solving of the Rubik Cube for the Thunder. Some teams flummoxed OKC early on, but through research (game film) and speaking with experts (Coach Daigneault), the Thunder have begun to figure teams out. Denver completely demolished the Thunder early in the season. Then the Thunder won the next three. Sacramento has given OKC issues for the past few seasons. The Thunder now seem to have figured that puzzle out. Houston plays like world-beaters every time their opponent has OKC written on their jersey. The Thunder turned a 16-point deficit into a 13-point victory on Sunday. Here’s hoping the puzzle of bad starts against Houston gets solved tonight.

This is the third of four meetings this season between these two teams. Houston dominated OKC in their first meeting in Houston, winning 110-101 (it wasn’t that close). OKC returned the favor on Sunday, winning 123-110. Their final meeting of the season will be on March 27th.

Magic Numbers

To lock up the 10th seed (play-in guaranteed) – 16
To lock up the 6th seed (playoffs guaranteed) – 19

Betting Info

Line: OKC -9.5
O/U: 235.5

Injury Report

OKC

None

HOU

Steven Adams (knee) – OUT
Tari Eason (lower leg) – OUT

Three Big Things

The Josh Giddey conundrum – The Houston Rockets were the first team this season to really lean on the “put the center on Giddey and let them roam” defense that OKC has been seeing over the past two months. In Sunday’s game, the Thunder involved Giddey in a lot more action around the floor (pick and rolls, off-ball action, etc) to cause the defense to react to the movement. The beautiful thing about a home and home is that it almost has the feel of a playoff series where adjustments are made from game to game. It will be interesting to see how Houston adjusts to OKC putting Giddey in motion on the offensive end.
Attack the paint – Houston has prioritized in long-winged perimeter defenders such as Tari Eason, Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr, and Amen Thompson. Where they lack is on the interior. While it may be a chore in getting into the paint, once they arrive, there isn’t much stopping from getting to the rim. For as good as Alperen Sengun has been on the offensive end, the defensive struggles are starting to become more and more apparent with every passing day.
Gordon Hayward – While it has looked a little clunky, I think the Hayward trade will turn out to be very successful for the Thunder. He has yet to take a three in the three games he has played with OKC. That means one of two things for me: either Hayward is still figuring out where on the floor to be in order to compliment OKC’s big 3 or defenders are staying closer to Hayward than they would someone like, oh, I don’t know, Josh Giddey, and giving the big 3 more space to operate. I’m calling my shot: Hayward hits two 3-pointers tonight.