{"id":1906340,"date":"2026-04-28T04:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1906340"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:25:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:25:43","slug":"shai-gilgeous-alexander-thunder-complete-sweep-over-suns-game-4-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1906340","title":{"rendered":"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder complete sweep over Suns: Game 4 takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a series-clinching 131-122 road win in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns on Monday. It was the Thunder\u2019s third consecutive sweep postseason of a first-round opponent.<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led six Thunder players in double-figure scoring with a game-high 31 points. Chet Holmgren added 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who shot 50 percent (17 of 34) from the 3-point range and 86 percent (26 of 30) from the free-throw line in the closeout game.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Devin Booker led Phoenix with 24 points and six assists. Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green each added 23 points, and Collin Gillespie finished with 20 points and made six 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

\n

Oklahoma City will now await the series winner between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.\u00a0Here are some takeaways from Monday\u2019s Game 4.<\/p>\n

A well-oiled machine at work<\/h2>\n

This sweep felt written on the wall.<\/p>\n

In Game 4, and really since the moment Jalen Williams went down, Oklahoma City kept the Suns at arm\u2019s length. Phoenix can\u2019t say it didn\u2019t try. It let Dillon Brooks tag Gilgeous-Alexander for the night. It played rookie Rasheer Fleming real minutes. It had another (relatively) low turnover game and some encouraging spurts of offense. Devin Booker even showed face.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

But breaking news: Gilgeous-Alexander and his crew are a well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander, when he escaped Brooks\u2019 grasp for air, coasted to an unsurprising 31 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Chet Holmgren caught lobs. Isaiah Hartenstein, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds, wrestled away boards. Alex Caruso made heady, disruptive defensive plays and had 14 points off the bench. Ajay Mitchell, still not shy with shot attempts, looked much more comfortable as he contributed 22 points and six assists.<\/p>\n

Phoenix, much like the rest of this series, never quite moved the meter Monday. And Oklahoma City made quick work of this series in an otherwise explosive round. \u2014 Joel Lorenzi<\/em><\/p>\n

More Booker was needed<\/h2>\n

Devin Booker has been a popular topic in Phoenix for most of this series. And not for usual reasons.\u00a0This won\u2019t end anytime soon.<\/p>\n

The Suns star didn\u2019t exactly struggle in this series, he just did not make the impact everyone expected. The Thunder tried to limit Booker as much as possible \u2014 and Booker seemed content with finding open teammates.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s fine. It\u2019s what makes Booker the player he is, a five-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. But at some point in this series, Booker needed to force his will instead of letting the Thunder force theirs. That\u2019s what stars do. In an elimination game, Booker had two points and five turnovers at halftime. He didn\u2019t make his first field goal until early in the third quarter. That\u2019s unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Booker got more aggressive as Game 4 unfolded, which only made people wonder why he didn\u2019t do so earlier.<\/p>\n

Booker, 29, isn\u2019t going anywhere. Last July, he signed a two-year, $145 max extension that will keep him in Phoenix through the 2029-30 season. That\u2019s what made his performance against the Thunder so troubling. As face of the franchise, he needed to do so much more. \u2014 Doug Haller<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a series-clinching 131-122 road win in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns on Monday. It was the Thunder\u2019s third consecutive sweep postseason of a first-round opponent. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led six Thunder players in double-figure scoring with a game-high 31 points. Chet Holmgren added 24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1906340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1906340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1906340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1906340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1906340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}