A tense, thrilling Game 1 gradually got underway amid enormous attention.
Judging purely by the paper strength of the two starting lineups, there didn't seem to be much difference between them.
The Thunder's usual starters were Westbrook, Alexander, Barrett, Davis, and Miro.
The Suns' starting lineup consisted of Haliburton, Booker, Huang Zhong, Maka, and Ayton.
By comparison, the Thunder perhaps held a significant advantage only at power forward.
Although Alexander had put together an outstanding season, the media still believed Booker wasn't far behind SGA.
So, from a certain perspective, this game was a good chance for both SGA and Booker to prove themselves...
The visiting Suns held the upper hand in the First Quarter.
Once the Playoffs began, every team devoted a great deal of effort to studying its opponents.
Naturally, a team like the Thunder—with such glaring, obvious weaknesses—was bound to have a hard time.
Sure enough, the second-round Game 1 had barely begun, and the First Quarter was just getting underway when the Thunder's offensive weaknesses were targeted once again.
With Westbrook and SGA deliberately left open, they combined to shoot just one for five from three to start the game. The team's spacing shrank dramatically, further hurting Davis's Rim Attack Efficiency—and even their own.
By contrast, the Suns came out with an exceptionally high Offensive Efficiency.
Devin Booker and Haliburton combined to shoot six for seven from beyond the arc in the quarter, extinguishing the Thunder's offensive charge with a veritable "downpour."
So, by the end of the First Quarter, the score had reached a stunning 41–27.
The Phoenix Suns had used their terrifying outside shooting to beat the Western Conference first by 14 points in a single quarter.
The enormous lead even left Suns fans feeling as if it couldn't be real.
Meanwhile, the Thunder