Since acquiring Chris Paul in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder before last season, no team in the NBA has more wins than the Phoenix Suns.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Suns will try to figure out a way to continue their momentum without their star point guard, beginning with Thursday night’s meeting with the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
Paul will miss six to eight weeks after fracturing his right thumb in Phoenix’s win over the Houston Rockets in its last game before the break.
“To think you’re going to go through an NBA season and not have adversity, it’s silly,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “You hate it, but you’re prepared for it. This is different because it’s Chris, but with that in mind, it’s also an opportunity to strengthen our team. Give other guys confidence in certain areas and when he does come back, I think that we’ll be that much better.”
Paul hasn’t missed many games since joining the Suns, who have gone 4-0 without him since the trade. All four of those games came last season, including two in the playoffs.
“I always want to play. When I felt that in my hand, I was mad for all types of reasons,” said Paul, the NBA assists leader at 10.7 per game. “Obviously, we’re not going to (rush it). I’m going to try to heal as fast as physically possible. The second I’m able to play, I guarantee you I will be playing.”
The Suns entered the break as the NBA’s hottest team, having won seven straight games and 18 of their last 19.
That’s given Phoenix some breathing room atop the Western Conference, where they’re 6 1/2 games clear of second-place Golden State.
Oklahoma City went into the break having lost six of its last seven.
The Thunder are hoping to get several players back from injury soon, including their leading scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He hasn’t played since Jan. 28 after suffering a right ankle sprain. Under the timeline given at the time of the injury, he could return as soon as Thursday.
“His progression has been what we expected,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said heading into the break.
The Thunder have also been without Luguentz Dort (left shoulder strain), Kenrich Williams (right knee sprain) and Ty Jerome (left hip soreness) due to injuries suffered just before the break.
While things have been difficult for Oklahoma City recently, rookie Josh Giddey has been a major bright spot.
The 19-year-old is one of just nine players in the NBA to average at least 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists this season.
Among those, only Giddey and Lakers star Russell Westbrook weren’t All-Stars.
Giddey entered the break with three consecutive triple-doubles and has four this season.
Since Gilgeous-Alexander’s injury, which gave Giddey a more prominent ball-handling role, he has averaged 16.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists with 4.1 turnovers.
Thursday’s meeting is the third of four between the teams this season and the first in Oklahoma City.
Phoenix won the first two meetings by an average of 15 points.
