The Phoenix Suns have a tried and tested defensive process, however, they also have a top-tier scorer in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that they’ll be matching up with.

How did SGA fair vs the Phoenix Suns in the regular season?

From knowing Shai’s spots, to being savvy with help, and wanting to force the Thunder into late clock shots on their terms or to take a ton of three’s — the Suns have clear-cut desires from their defensive process.

Gilgeous-Alexander did average 30 points on 50.9% from the field vs the Suns, and 16.3 drives with 19 points created on average via those.

Oklahoma City also showed a desire to test the Suns perimeter size with taking hits and bumps from their MVP, as he works methodically to create space.

Devin Booker and the Suns have to keep pace with scoring on their own merits, however, within the nuances they’ve shown, can they their defensive footing and sustain against the reigning MVP and reigning champions? What would it need to look like if they were able to do so?

It’ll take moments like those compiled by Goodwin and Ighodaro as a tandem to get to the Playoffs, to reach their ceiling in impact as a team on that end of the floor.

Help defense will also be an entity that is called to task, and will often either have consequences if late, or reward in execution if sharp. Their margin for error this series is as slim as it gets, and they’ll need to sustain threading that needle well as a unit, with activity, to get to where they desire to be.

Collin Gillespie is also someone to keep an eye on, as the Thunder have shown to find ways to bring him to action. Collin is not a bad defender, but his size looms as something teams feel they can poke at, at times, in space.

Sharpness with pick-up points, at points of attack, and with help, will be as key as anything after staying attached to the ball. Stephen PridGeon-Garner is back with a quick look at that process shown vs Shai and the Thunder in their regular season series.