Colin Gillespie’s confident statement for the NBA Cup quarterfinals against the Thunder, with or without Devin Booker

To some people’s surprise, The Phoenix Suns will meet in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the best team in the NBA. Even at 23-1, it doesn’t seem to phase the Suns, especially Colin Gillespie.

While Devin Booker has been sidelined for the Suns with a groin injury, he could be back in time for Wednesday’s game.

However, after Phoenix knocked off the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, Gillespie is ready for Oklahoma City, no matter what his team looks like.

“We know what it is. I think everybody else does, too,” Gillespie said after the game, via AZCentral’s Duane Rankin on X (formerly Twitter).

“Hopefully we have (Devin) Book for that, but if not, we go with the same mentality as every other game. We expect to win.”

Phoenix faced Oklahoma City about two weeks ago and put up a solid fight. That was with Booker in the starting lineup, though, which makes a big difference. Without a star point guard, the Suns have found ways to grind out weak wins.

Can the Suns pull off the impossible against the Thunder in the NBA Cup?

Never say never if you’re a Phoenix because of your fierce nature and defensive instincts. In previous contests between these two teams, the Suns have done a good job of being active with their hands and getting steals and layups.

At the end of the day, they ended up losing due to turnovers and going over their game high of 20 turnovers. Again, playing without Booker creates a disadvantage, but Mark Williams does simple message for Wednesday’s game.

“They (Oklahoma City) are working right now,” Williams said via Rankin on X (formerly Twitter). “Whoever is on the field just needs to step up.”

Even if Wednesday’s result doesn’t make too much of a difference in the final season standings, just knocking off the NBA’s best team is reason to win.

That being said, there is a great deal of pride in the quarter-finals how close the Suns were to taking down the Thunders.

They will have a chance to rewrite the script and live up to their expectations of Suns basketball, which includes tenacious defense, taking care of the basketball and sustaining offense.