PHOENIX — The Suns vs Thunder regular-season finale arrives Sunday at Paycom Center with both teams already knowing where they stand. Phoenix is locked into the seventh seed at 44-37, Oklahoma City has the No. 1 spot secured at 64-17, and the teams are meeting for the fifth time this season.
The Thunder have won the season series 3-1, but the Suns have already shown they can bother the top seed. Phoenix beat Oklahoma City once this year, and Jordan Goodwin set a career-high in threes in that win, the only game the Suns have taken from the Thunder so far.
That matters because the matchup may not be finished after Sunday. The Suns have a play-in game scheduled for Tuesday, and if they lose their 7 vs. 8 seed game, they would be lined up to face Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs. For now, the regular-season finale gives Phoenix one last look at a team it could see again almost immediately.
Read Also: Suns Score 120-110 Win Over Bulls, Close In On Seventh Seed
The Thunder are also short-handed, with ten players out, which opens the door for deeper rotation minutes on both sides. Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Jamaree Bpuyea, C.J. Huntley and Koby Brea could all get run as the game unfolds, giving the finale a different feel than a standard close to the schedule.
Read Also: Khaman Maluach starts for Suns as Phoenix shuffles lineup again
For Phoenix, the result will not change the seeding, but it can still shape the next few days. The Suns know they are headed to the play-in on Tuesday, and they also know one loss there could send them straight back to Oklahoma City for a first-round meeting that would carry far more weight than a Sunday night cleanup game.
