NBA Basketball
2026-04-19 - Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball Playoffs First Round Game 1
Sunday 19th April 2026 - Scheduled 3:30pm EST
8:30pm (British Time)
Preview
Knocking off the Golden State Warriors in the final Play In Tournament game means the Phoenix Suns avoided becoming the first team to lose two homes games at that stage of the post-season and be eliminated from the First Round of the Playoffs.
There was some tension at the end of that victory, but the Suns won't care as the young squad enter the Playoffs with a chance to build some experience that will help in the development of the team.
As you can tell, expectations before the season were pretty limited and the Phoenix Suns will have already overachieved by earning the Number 8 Seed.
At the same time, the Phoenix Suns will want to show what they are all about when they face the defending Champions and Number 1 Seed in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder remain favourites to win the NBA Championship again and they will be pretty happy with this match up, rather than facing the veteran Golden State Warriors who could have used their Playoff experiences to make things awkward.
Encouragement for the Phoenix Suns is that they split a four game regular season series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, including a win on this court on the last day of the regular season. However, that was a victory over a second string Oklahoma City team and two of the other three regular season meetings ended in blowout losses.
Phoenix fans have to believe that they can show enough youthful exuberance and Defensive intensity to at least give the top Seed something to think about, but this opening game feels like a tough spot on limited rest.
The road team may hope that the relatively long layoff for the Oklahoma City starters could perhaps slow the early rhythm and that could give the Suns an opportunity- however, the Thunder are an experienced group now and the home crowd should give them all of the motivation to find their shooting very quickly.
It is the three point shooting that makes the Thunder very dangerous in this match up with the Phoenix Suns and that has shown up in a couple of blowout wins over this opponent in the regular season.
Twelve months ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder won Game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies by 51 points and they can certainly overpower this spread set.
Another home team being set as a very big favourite is the play in this First Round Series.
Prediction
Lay the points with the higher Seed and defending Champion in Game 1 of this First Round Series.
The Pick :
Oklahoma City Thunder 119-99 Phoenix Suns
