OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, now not the younger upstarts, start their quest for an NBA title repeat on Sunday at dwelling towards the Phoenix Suns.

The Thunder stay one of many youngest groups within the league. However now, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads a bunch of grizzled playoff veterans that gained two seven-game collection final 12 months, together with the NBA Finals towards the Indiana Pacers.

Oklahoma Metropolis adopted that up by posting the league’s greatest document of 64-18 this season, holding off the San Antonio Spurs to safe homecourt benefit. Now, the Thunder have embraced the brand new problem of attempting to win once more.

“This playoff run is so distinctive and so totally different to the final one, and we’ve got to have the power to grasp that each collection goes to be totally different, each recreation goes be totally different,” Thunder guard/ahead Jalen Williams mentioned.

Oklahoma Metropolis is rolling, having gained 19 of 20 earlier than resting starters the ultimate two regular-season video games. The Thunder have misplaced only one recreation because the All-Star break with Gilgeous-Alexander within the lineup, and their final dwelling loss with him was Jan. 25 towards Toronto.

Gilgeous-Alexander completed second within the league with 31.1 factors per recreation. Fellow All-Star Chet Holmgren averaged 17.1 factors and eight.9 assists this season and was second within the league with 1.9 blocks per recreation.

None of which means Oklahoma Metropolis’s path can be straightforward. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned regardless of being within the play-in, the Suns are a transparent playoff-caliber staff that won’t be taken frivolously. Phoenix completed 45-37 within the common season and reached the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Devin Booker is an All-Star who averaged 26.1 factors and 6 assists per recreation this season.

Suns coach Jordan Ott mentioned he is happy with the best way his staff bounced again from the p lay-in event loss to Portland on Tuesday and beat Golden State on Friday evening to earn the No. 8 seed.

“I feel that the group that’s in that locker room has a ton of resilience and needs to do issues totally different, and that’s what we stress from the get-go,” Ott mentioned. “And typically the street’s not at all times the one that you just select and suppose it’s going to occur or the one which’s most traveled. Generally, it’s the least traveled. So we discovered our approach in. Now, it’s onto the subsequent factor.”

Three key members of Canada’s nationwide staff will compete on this collection — Gilgeous-Alexander and defensive stopper Lu Dort for the Thunder and Dillon Brooks for the Suns.

Brooks is likely one of the league’s greatest defensive gamers and greatest antagonists. He averaged a career-high 20.2 factors this season.

Final season, Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell entered the postseason coming off varied accidents. He performed sparingly within the postseason as a rookie.

This 12 months, he has been a key ingredient to Oklahoma Metropolis’s success whereas rising as one of many league’s high reserves. He averaged 13.6 factors this season after averaging 6.5 final season.

Williams went via your entire playoffs final season with a hand harm that required surgical procedure. This season, he missed 19 video games to start out the season as he recovered and 30 as he healed from a hamstring harm.

He is wholesome and able to go.

“I really feel extraordinarily recent as a result of I performed, like, 12 video games,” he mentioned.

Phoenix’s Jalen Inexperienced was scorching sizzling within the two play-in video games. He had 35 factors within the loss to Portland, then 36 within the win over the Golden State Warriors.

That is a big soar from the 17.8 factors he averaged within the common season. His current play will power the Thunder to resolve whether or not to concentrate on him or Booker.

“I’m very snug taking part in up there with Ebook,” Inexperienced mentioned. “You sort of have to choose your poison of the way you’re going to protect it. Even when it’s a heavy shift or not, we sort of play off one another in that state of affairs.”

Oklahoma Metropolis gained three of the 5 conferences. In probably the most noteworthy matchups, the Thunder crushed the Suns 138-89 within the NBA Cup and the Suns beat the Thunder 108-105 in Phoenix on Jan. 4.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA