With Oklahoma City Thunder putting up their customary dominant display in a 138-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, frustrations ran high for the road team. Grayson Allen, in particular, seemed to have enough and decided to head to the showers early after getting himself ejected by dealing a hard hit to Chet Holmgren that referees deemed worthy of calling a flagrant foul penalty two.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a perfect firsthand view of what happened as Allen was Holmgren’s man and Holmgren was simply setting a screen to try and free him up. And it was rather hilarious how Gilgeous-Alexander reacted as an all-out brawl nearly unfolded after Allen’s unsportsmanlike infringement.
This game was as one-sided as it can get for a contest of this magnitude, and at this point, players are simply left scratching their heads on how to defeat this powerhouse Thunder squad. Maybe Allen got the memo that OKC could be irritated by physical play, but even then, all this did was cause a fracas with the game already decided long ago given the deficit the Suns faced at the time.
This is not the first time that Allen has been called for a foul similar to this, so this kind of behavior shouldn’t come as much of a surprise anymore to anyone.
Thunder steamroll the Suns
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
The Thunder must be very motivated to win the NBA Cup after falling in the final of the competition last year. Last year, they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks; this year, they are set up very nicely to go all the way especially after thoroughly dismantling the Suns.
They have now booked their place in Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals, awaiting the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs’ clash on the other side of the bracket.
