Jalen Williams scored 33 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-112 road win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.
The Suns took their eighth consecutive loss and were eliminated from contention for the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Phoenix (35-45) will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
The win was the second consecutive for the Thunder (66-14), who extended their franchise record for victories in a season.
With their spot as the top seed in the Western Conference long secured, and playing the second night of a back-to-back, the Thunder were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace.
Early on, the Thunder missed Dort’s defense in particular, as the Suns jumped out to a double-digit first-quarter lead, shooting 16 of 23.
Devin Booker scored 11 of Phoenix’s 39 first-quarter points.
With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, the Suns led 56-41 and seemed on pace to keep their faint playoff hopes alive for another day at least.
But Oklahoma City cut the deficit to just five at halftime, then took control in the third.
The Thunder scored the final nine points of the third quarter to take a 12-point lead into the fourth and eventually stretched their lead as big as 20.
Even without Dort, one of the top defenders in the NBA, Oklahoma City turned up the pressure defensively in the third.
The Thunder scored 14 of their 43 third-quarter points off Phoenix’s eight turnovers and finished with 25 points off 15 Suns’ turnovers.
The Suns scored just 10 points off 12 Oklahoma City turnovers.
Thunder big man Chet Holmgren finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, going 12 of 13 from the free-throw line. Alex Caruso posted season highs in points (19) and steals (five) while Aaron Wiggins added 17 points in the win.
Bradley Beal led the Suns with 25 points while Booker added 20 points and 14 assists.
After shooting 59.1 percent from the floor in the first half, Phoenix was just 16 of 43 (37.2 percent) from the field in the second half.
–Field Level Media