NBA News Wire
Suns 128, Thunder 122
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
PHOENIX — Guard Gerald Green scored a career-high 41 points and guard Goran Dragic had seven of his 22 points in the final 2 1/2 minutes to help the Phoenix Suns beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-122 at U.S. Airways Center on Thursday.
Green also had a career-high eight 3-pointers, six in the third quarter, when he scored 25 points. He was one short of a franchise record for 3-pointers in a game.
Guard Russell Westbrook had 36 points, nine assists and nine rebounds and forward Kevin Durant scored 34 points for the Thunder, which had an 11-game winning streak against the Suns snapped.
Durant has scored at least 25 points in 27 straight games, tying Allen Iverson for the second-longest streak in the NBA in the last 25 years. Iverson did it in 2000-01. Durant has the longest streak, 29, achieved in 2009-10.
Oklahoma City (46-16) had a three-game winning streak halted and dropped one-half game behind Indiana for the best record in the league.
The Suns (36-25) led 116-111 when Green made one of two free throws with 5:07 remaining, but Westbrook made two free throws and hit a 3-pointer to tie the game before forward Serge Ibaka’s slam on a Durrant feed gave the Thunder a 118-116 lead a minute later.
Dragic had two driving layups to put the Suns back in front, and his 20-footer made it 124-120 with 45.3 seconds remaining.
Durant made a 10-footer to bring the Thunder within two, but forward Markieff Morris hit two free throws and Durant and Westbook missed 3-pointers on the next possession.
Markieff Morris had 24 points and twin brother Marcus had 15 off the bench.
Ibaka had 18 for the Thunder.
With Green tying a franchise record for 3-pointers in a quarter, the Suns ended the third quarter on a 21-2 run to take a 101-98 lead, their first lead since 3-2.
Westbrook had 13 points in the first period, when Oklahoma City took a 41-32 lead. The Thunder’s 41 points were the most they scored in any quarter this season and the most the Suns had given up in any quarter.
NOTES: Thunder F Kevin Durant and Suns G Goran Dragic are two of the three NBA players averaging 20 points and five assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Miami F LeBron James is the other. If Dragic maintains that pace, he would join Paul Westphal (four times), Kevin Johnson (twice), Walter Davis, Charles Barkley and current Suns coach Jeff Hornacek as the only Suns to do that in a season. G Gary Payton is the only other SuperSonic/Thunder player to do that. … Suns 7-foot-1 C Alex Len made his second career start after getting six points and six rebounds in his first start March 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers. Len, the fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, has replaced Miles Plumlee (right knee sprain). … Suns G Gerald Green has scored in double-digits in 13 straight games, a career long. … Suns G Eric Bledsoe, who has missed 30 games since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, is expected to return next week, Hornaceck said. “We have to somehow figure out how to get him in … without screwing up our rotation, and obviously every game is big from now on,” Hornacek said. The Suns also are without G Leandro Barbosa, expected to miss six weeks after suffering fractured hand March 4.
