Thunder Will Need More Than Home Court Advantage To Cool Off Scorching Suns

Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns — The Suns are favorites over the Thunder but cannot take OKC for granted. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

The Suns will try to go for their fifth straight win when they visit the Thunder Sunday
The Thunder needs to win to ramp up its chances in the NBA playoffs
Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are expected to lead the Suns anew against the dangerous Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder is bracing for a huge encounter when it hosts the streaking Phoenix Suns at the Paycom Center Sunday.

The Suns are -4.5 favorites to prevail over the host team, with the moneyline set at -195 for Phoenix and +162 for Oklahoma City, USA Today reported.

Both teams are even in their regular season series. The Suns took the first game back in February, but the Thunder bounced back to even the score in early March.

The Suns are on a four-game winning streak, the last win of which came Friday at the expense of the Denver Nuggets, 100-93.

Against Denver, Kevin Durant led the way with 30 points and four rebounds. Backing him up was Devin Booker, who finished with 27 points and six assists.

"I like how we played in the first half, but it was a bad second half for us," Durant said after the game, ESPN reported. "We just let our foot off the gas a little and they were playing extremely hard. ... We've just got to do a better job of sticking with it."

On the other side, the Thunder is smarting from a loss to the Indiana Pacers, 117-121, Friday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in that loss with a game-high 39 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Josh Giddey backed him up with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

"I thought we had opportunities," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game, according to another ESPN report. "We didn't close the third as well as we could have. The guys care. We're competing and trying to get there, but we'll grow from these experiences regardless of whether we come out on top."

A win is more essential for the Thunder, which is currently at the 10th spot of the Western Conference with a 38-40 win-loss record. The team is just a game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and a game behind the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Oklahoma City prepares for the streaking Suns, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. EDT Sunday. The game will be shown over the NBC Sports Networks, with live streaming also available via FuboTV.