Oklahoma City Thunder dominant in opener, rout Phoenix Suns - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — Once again, the Oklahoma City Thunder landed a haymaker for their first punch of the playoffs.

The defending champions opened with a dominant performance at the Paycom Center, rolling to a 119-84 rout of the Phoenix Suns in Sunday's Game 1. It was similar to the Thunder's start to last year's postseason, when they blew out the Memphis Grizzlies by 51 points in Game 1 of a series they swept to take the first step in the title run.

The Thunder joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1986 and 1987 as the only teams in NBA history to open consecutive postseasons with wins by at least 35 points, according to ESPN Research.

«It's not like we're going into Game 1s being like, 'All right, let's just blow them out,'» said Thunder wing Jalen Williams, who had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. «It's more just like, 'How hard can we play to set the tone?' For us, not even for the Suns. Let's set a tone of like what's expected from the first guy to the 15th man.»

Oklahoma City, the league's top-ranked defense in each of the past two regular seasons, used a familiar formula to bury the Suns. The Thunder converted 19 turnovers into 34 points.

«I'm sure those guys take the regular-season game serious, but they feel like this is the time of year,» Suns star Devin Booker said. «They're trying to go for it again. Every time down, [we can't] turn it over. I think that fuels everything — fuels them, fuels the crowd. Turns into a domino effect.»

The Thunder had a 34-2 advantage in points off of turnovers, the largest differential in that category in a playoff game during the play-by-play era. The only other playoff occasion in which a team had a 30-point advantage in scoring off of turnovers occurred in Oklahoma City's home