It wasn’t all that long ago that Phoenix had a four-game lead over Oklahoma City for the last spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. It wasn’t all that long ago that Thunder fans were clamoring for Brooks’ job while Reggie Jackson inexplicably refused to take end-of-quarter half court shots. Nope, that was last month.

After hitting rock bottom by losing to the New York Knicks, the Thunder has now reached the high point of its season. New additions Enes Kanter, Kyle Singler, and D.J. Augustin look like they’ve been with the team since training camp, and Russell Westbrook has turned into Oscar Robertson. Oklahoma City is rolling, Phoenix is not.

What happened to Phoenix? A month ago they were the team with Goran Dragic who was a top 15 player in the league last year according to the All-NBA voting. Isaiah Thomas is a guy nobody wants to play with, so it looks like the Celtics found the perfect Rondo replacement. Phoenix is now going in the wrong direction. The roster still consists of nice pieces, but the defense is suspect. Let’s do the math here. Goran Dragic (top 15 player), Isaiah Thomas (dynamic player), Lakers’ top-five protected pick equals Brandon Knight, a 2017, and a 2021 (will the world still exist) pick? They may have gotten Danny Granger too, but that’s like saying you acquired a 1999 Volvo. Like yeah, it still works, but only about thirty times a year. Andrew Sharp on Grantland had some interesting things to say about this.

Things look bad for Phoenix. Things looked worse when Isaiah Thomas hit a dagger three for the Celtics in Phoenix. The NBA man.

Oklahoma City, even though it holds only a two-game lead over team Anthony Davis, has set its sights on things ahead. San Antonio, for whatever reason, finally looks old. With another loss to Portland on Wednesday, the San Antonio Spurs now hold a two-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Those two teams will meet twice more this season.

As for tonight’s game, this one is huge for Phoenix. Oklahoma City can clinch the tiebreaker (head to head) and also put three and a half games between them and Phoenix. A loss for the Suns in Phoenix would all but assure the eighth seed won’t belong to them. Still, a ton of NBA left to be played. If Phoenix has any hope of making the playoffs, this game is a must-win.