Can the surprising Suns steal a game and avoid elimination, or will OKC complete their dominant playoff sweep? A battle awaits.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have the opportunity to do something that no other of the 15 NBA playoff teams can do this postseason: sweet their 1st Round series.
OKC has a commanding 3-0 lead on the Phoenix Suns going into their Game 4 clash on Monday night at the Mortgage Matchup Center. The Thunder margins of victory in their previous three games are 35 points, 13 points and 12 points. That's an average differential of a whopping 20 points per game.
Stealing one game from the defending champions and this year's #1 overall seed would be a tangible measure of success for the Suns. After all, this was a team that came into the 2025-2026 season with Las Vegas predicting around 30 wins and the #14 seed in the Western Conference. Phoenix blew all expectations out of the water by maintaining their grasp on the #7 seed throughout the regular season before falling to #8 after the play-in tournament. The Suns far exceeded all projections by winning 45 games and clinching a playoff berth. Taking one game off the Thunder and avoiding a sweep would be the cherry on top for Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and friends.
And anyone expecting Phoenix to come out deflated or ready to give up in Game 4 just because they're down 0-3, the Thunder's head coach would strongly disagree.
"That's a good muscle for us to flex when you come on the road. We're gonna need it again on Monday," Mark Daigneault said when asked about his team fighting through a Suns run in Game 3. "This team is not a team that is going to lay down. This is who they've been all year. They keep fighting. They run on every ground ball. They're gonna bring it on Monday. And we gotta be ready for a battle."
The player who changed the culture in Phoenix this season certainly is not giving up. To the contrary, he already put out a public proclamation for tonight's contest.
"He's efficient and I got him Game Four," said Dillon Brooks after Game 3 when asked about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 42 point performance.
The Phoenix Suns were one of the biggest surprise teams of the 2026 season. No one expected them to be here last summer. Now no one expects them to upset the Thunder and avoid the sweep.
So the question now is... do the Suns have one last surprise in store?