Suns beat Thunder, continue prep for Blazers play-in matchup

Sometimes the final game of a road trip can naturally lead to distracting thoughts of home but those were very valid for the Phoenix Suns on Sunday in a 135-103 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Phoenix had a good idea it would be hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday for the right to be the seventh seed in the playoffs, and that was confirmed after Portland beat the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. The Suns surely already kicked off a deep scout of Portland on Friday night ahead of the play-in tournament and there was definitely more work done on that than prepping for Oklahoma City in a game that did not matter one bit for either squad.

Phoenix sat Devin Booker (right ankle injury management), Dillon Brooks (left hand injury management), Jalen Green (right knee soreness), Royce O’Neale (left knee injury management), Mark Williams (left foot injury management), Grayson Allen (left hamstring soreness), Collin Gillespie (right shoulder contusion) and Jordan Goodwin (left ankle sprain).

Allen, Booker, Brooks and O’Neale were already back in Phoenix on Sunday, per azcentral’s Duane Rankin.

Allen, Goodwin and Green are the outliers on that list of absences, as they are dealing with injuries that could affect their availability on Tuesday. A questionable designation for Goodwin and Green provides some optimism that they could be good to go.

The most relevant player to the postseason rotation in action was Haywood Highsmith, who returned from a 12-game absence. When debuting in March, Highsmith immediately provided what the Suns needed as a complementary wing before the right knee he had surgery on prevented him from building off it. This was just his seventh game with the Suns, but given what they’ve been lacking on the defensive end and the slashing threats Portland has, you can’t rule out the possibility he could play on Tuesday.

Highsmith, however, finished with only 10 minutes, so maybe he’s not ready yet.

Jamaree Bouyea scored a career-high 27 points for Phoenix with nine assists. Ryan Dunn added 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while rookie Khaman Maluach provided 18 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks.

The Suns end the regular season with a 45-37 record. They will face the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs if they defeat the Blazers on Tuesday. If Phoenix loses, it will have one more crack at it against the winner between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors in Phoenix on Friday. A win, and they quickly fly to face OKC for the first round. A loss, and their season is over.

Oklahoma City was without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right oblique injury management), Chet Holmgren (low back spasms), Jalen Williams (right hamstring injury management), Isaiah Hartenstein (left soleus injury), Cason Wallace (left toe soreness), Alex Caruso (rest), Ajay Mitchell (left ankle injury management), Isaiah Joe (left knee soreness), Jaylin Williams (right Achilles tendinitis) and Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgery).

Outside of the rookie Sorber, who has missed the entire season, the Thunder appear to be fully healthy. That is a new development for them.

Jalen Williams has only played nine games in the last there months, the premier absence among a boatload of minor to severe ones over the course of the year. Joe and Wallace were the only Thunder players to break 70-plus games, while Hartenstein reached just 47 and it was below 60 for Mitchell (57) and Caruso (56).

With that in mind, watching OKC’s perimeter rotation in the playoffs will be fascinating. This is where the Thunder should be flat-out better than last time out.

The longer their title run got, the more reliability dwindled amongst the guards. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams ran out of trustworthy compatriots beyond Luguentz Dort and Caruso once the NBA Finals kicked into high gear. Expected inconsistencies for more inexperienced guys like Wallace, Joe and Aaron Wiggins arrived rather fiercely after they were nails all year. This quickly evolved Caruso from a luxury to a necessity.

Mitchell is the game-changer. He would have been in the running for Sixth Man of the Year had he stayed healthy as the third ball-handler missing in OKC’s offense last year when issues arose. Lineups featuring both him and Gilgeous-Alexander have been a bulldozer this season. He appears to have relegated Wiggins to a DNP slot, a big-time upgrade after Wiggins’ shaky postseason last year.

McCain is the wild-card. He’s the 11th guy on a 10-man rotation, but if head coach Mark Daigneault senses he needs a spark with others struggling, he will call his name. McCain’s assimilated quickly since the trade and has the exact profile of the type of random reserve that flips a key game in a playoff series. Expect McCain to do that at least once.

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