The Oklahoma City Thunder’s place in the postseason is set.
The Thunder (64-17) will be the No. 1 overall seed when the playoffs open, their third consecutive season earning the top spot in the Western Conference.
The Phoenix Suns (44-37) will be headed to the play-in tournament as the No. 7 seed, though their opponent remains to be set.
Sunday, the Suns and Thunder meet in Oklahoma City in both teams’ regular-season finale.
For the Thunder, the game figures to be as much about looking to the future as anything else.
After clinching the top spot in the West with Wednesday’s win over the Clippers, Oklahoma City sat four starters and several other rotational players in Friday’s 20-point loss in Denver that snapped the Thunder’s seven-game winning streak.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the plan for Sunday’s game, with nearly a week before the playoff opener, will be similar to the loss to the Nuggets.
Daigneault said he was happy with the way the regulars — players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein — supported the reserves who played significantly more minutes Friday than they had for much of the season.
“This team’s got great connection,” Daigneault said. “I think they’ve got a great understanding that a lot of these guys do the same for them when they’re playing 38 minutes and so they reciprocate that.”
Daigneault said there was value in these games, even for the regular starters.
“They’re listening,” Daigneault said. “They’re paying attention. They’re saying the right things. It helps create an environment around the guys that are playing that allows them to play as well as they can.”
The reserve success includes players like Nikola Topic, who played 39 minutes in Friday’s loss — more than twice as many as he had in any of his first eight NBA games after missing much of the season while undergoing testicular cancer treatment and then missed another stretch as he worked his way back through the G League.
Topic was 6-for-12 shooting with 14 points and 11 assists — but also eight turnovers — in the loss.
“It will only get better and it did get better this game,” Topic said after Friday’s game. “I think it’ll also be better tomorrow, the next game and next week.”
Phoenix will take on either the Los Angeles Clippers or Portland Trail Blazers in Tuesday’s matchup between the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds for the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
Portland can wrap up the No. 8 seed with a win over Sacramento or a Clippers loss to Golden State. Los Angeles would need a win over the Warriors and a Blazers loss to the Kings to finish in the eighth spot.
For Phoenix, keeping a sense of rhythm is more important, though the Suns will be without Grayson Allen on Sunday.
Allen sustained a left hamstring injury in Friday’s 101-73 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Suns rested Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Jordan Goodwin and Haywood Highsmith in Friday’s loss, but were hoping to get Allen and others some additional time.
After Allen’s injury, Suns coach Jordan Ott sat Collin Gillespie for the entire second half.
It might also make Ott less likely to push his regulars much in Sunday’s game.
“The plan was always to try to find a little rhythm for these guys,” Ott said. “I just didn’t want to see another injury.”
–Field Level Media
