Oklahoma City’s big man showed out once again in Game 2. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder took care of business once again on Wednesday night, beating the Suns 120-107. OKC now leads the series 2-0 as it has taken advantage of its home court and dominated in both games. There were many key pieces to the Thunder taking the second game of the series, and one of them was the big man in the middle. 

Chet Holmgren had another solid game to help push Oklahoma City past Phoenix. The 7-foot-1 Thunder star had 19 points on an impressive 58.3% shooting. The big man was even connecting from downtown as he made 50% of his shots from deep. 

Holmgren also brought in the second most rebounds for the Thunder, grabbing eight on the night. His biggest impact of the night on Wednesday night had to be on the defensive end. Holmgren owned down low and turned away many Suns that hoped to get an easy shot. 

Even when Phoenix dared to put up a shot, Holmgren was there to physically turn the ball away, with the big man totalling four blocks on the night. Both the offensive and defensive sides of his game showcase how dominant a player Holmgren is becoming, and he needs to take advantage of this against the Suns. 

Phoenix relies heavily on its backcourt in its game, and a team without a solid frontcourt is not a team equipped to deal with Holmgren all night. Suns big man Oso Ighodaro was the main one out of the starters tasked to deal with Holmgren, and as the stat sheet shows, he failed. Ighodaro had a net rating of -23 in Wednesday night’s contest, the worst on the Suns roster. 

This clear weakness Phoenix has in guarding Holmgren must continue and could be the key to OKC finishing the series in just four games. Holmgren is averaging 17.5 points in the first two games of the postseason, and although it’s early, he’s on track for the best scoring postseason of his career. 

Holmgren and OKC will no hit the road for games three and four in Phoenix, where hopefully they can finish the series. A new environment won’t save the Suns from the OKC big man’s dominant play, and will not bring a new solution to stopping him. 

If Holmgren can exhibit the same play he has in the past two games, not only will Phoenix continue to have troubles, but the rest of the league as well.

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