Phoenix Suns Frustrated Over Questionable Calls In Late-Game Loss To Thunder

The Phoenix Suns overall weren't displeased with their performance in the 111-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They credit the play of the young and talented Thunder team but also feel they played hard and were the recipients of some questionable calls late in the game. 

"I was happy with the effort we played with. I thought we did a good job. We've got to do a better job defensively in the fourth quarter but we also missed a bunch of shots that could have given us a little separation or could have kept us right there in the game," Alvin Gentry said.

It was a game of runs that started with the Suns building an 11-point lead in the opening five minutes of the game but then the home team gave up a 21-15 run to the Thunder. It was a pattern that would repeat itself several times right up through the fourth quarter where the Suns were able to build a six-point lead with 7:27 to go. Then the Thunder came right back and tied the game at 103 with 1:41 to go.

The ability to win these close game, especially at home this season, has been a constant sore spot and unlike in years past this time it's the offense that's not been there.

Vince Carter on three straight possessions missed long field goal attempts (two three-point shots and a long two) while on the other end the Thunder were able to scratch out four points off a Serge Ibaka tip-in off a missed shot and a Russell Westbrook 11-foot shot in the lane. 

"I was wide open. Wide open. Maybe they should have guarded me, I might have made them. That's all I got for you," Carter said about his late-game opportunities. 

That sequence put the Thunder ahead 107-103 with 40 seconds left in the game. The Suns forced a back court violation on the in-bound pass and then cut the lead to 107-105 off a Nash layup. On the next Thunder in-bound the ball went to Kevin Durant who appeared to travel but the foul was called on Nash which effectively ended the game.

"I felt like there was minimal contact. He jumped in the air 40 feet from the basket. There was minimal contact. That's the kind of call I don't see going our way when we're on the road," Nash said about the play.

It wasn't the only controversial call that had the Suns miffed.

With about 4:14 to go, Kevin Durant attempted a baseline jump shot. The official called a foul on Grant Hill on the shot and then called technical fouls on both Hill and Nash for arguing the call. That gave Durant four free throw attempts. He missed two but the two he made tied the game at 97.

"It's hard enough guarding (Durant) one-on-one. He's a great player and I think the world of him as a player and as a person and I enjoy competing against him. It's certainly a challenge. He's a great scorer," Hill said.

"He's an honest guy. He said on that play I didn't foul him."

Vince Carter definitely wins the award for the best and most frustrating player of the game. He was aggressive in the first half and scored 19 points on 6-8 shooting and even better, got the free throw line for seven attempts and even drew a charge. In the second half, Carter lost his aggressiveness and didn't get to the line once and went 5-13 from the field, including those three crucial misses. 

The Suns fall to 23-25 on the season and once again fail to reach .500 when given the chance.

Other Quotes

Gentry

• "I was happy, I thought we competed and played hard and had some open looks that we just couldn't get in."
• "I thought we did a good job on (Durant). 24 points for him is like 12 for somebody else."
• "We had a stretch there in the second quarter where we had done a really good job defensively, and then about a five minute -- I think it was five minutes and 14 seconds -- they scored 24 points."
• "I liked the shots that we got. We got good shots. Vince three wide open looks that we liked. We just didn't get them in. I thought our execution was pretty good at the end of the game. We just didn't make the shots. For us, we just have to jump up and make the shots."
• "They play with Jeff Green at the four. He's a hybrid four. He's more like a three and a half. It's a tough match up when you got bigger guys on him and when you play a smaller guy on him he does a good job posting up."
• On the questionable calls, Gentry said, "I didn't see anything. I didn't see a thing."
• "(Ibaka) probably made the biggest shot of the game, that jump shot there at the foul line."

Carter

• "I'm happy to see the frustration in there. That means guys care. We want to win and we believe that we're a better team than our record shows."

Gortat

• Gortat said he didn't play well in the first half and tried to push himself and go through guys. He wasn't happy with the decisions he made early on. 
• The pick and roll was better in the second half. 
• "It's not easy to be aggressive and try to fight and play hard with fouls."

Frye

• "Vince got great shots. He's going to make those shots eight out of ten times."
• "It sucks to lose but for us I felt like we competed and everybody left everything on the floor and just some things didn't go our way."
• "In the third quarter we did really well and the fourth quarter -- they're a good team and they've been to the playoffs - so they made some adjustments and if something was working for them they went to it and their guys made some shots."
• "I think we've grown, we're a lot more mature. We have a lot more trust in each other. I think you can see that out there. Guys are taking charges. Guys are out there being emotional about every play. I think that's what we needed."
• "It's getting back to really being fun to play out there. It's exhausting but it's been a lot of fun and it's going to continue to be that way as long as we continue to grow and work hard."
• Frye said he didn't work on posting up all summer. 
• "I practiced that on the low-low and I never ever used it," Frye said about his running hook shot in the lane after curling off a screen. "I think I've done it maybe once in practice."
• "I'm never going to complain about playing too much. I love it."

Hill

• On the double technicals, Grant said Nash didn't say anything and then they T'd him for saying that Nash didn't say anything.
• "I'll try and say this artfully. Mike Callahan I have a lot of respect for. He was his usually steady, consistent self tonight. I'll just leave it at that."
• Asked about the foul call on the late play where Durant jumped and probably traveled but Nash got called for the foul, Hill said, "It was consistent with what we were seeing out there tonight."
• "We can't use that as an excuse. I think that did turn the momentum but we still had chances. I thought they got some timely offensive rebounds, tip-ins. They hit two big shots. The Ibaka one that shot clock was going down."
• They are good team. A young team. They probably wanted to avenge the loss from when we beat them in December.

Nash

• "We just didn't make quite enough plays tonight."
• "Four free throws on that one play. I thought Grant played great D. They put Durant on the line. They T'd me up, I didn't say anything. They T'd Grant up for saying I didn't say anything. Four free throws at that point in the game for what could have been a good defensive stop and a fast break was tough for us to overcome."
• "Maybe we didn't make some shots at the end of the game we had a chance to knock in and we also didn't get some breaks there. We didn't get any calls. Maybe gave up a couple of offensive rebounds here or there but we just got to move on."
• "I thought the guys that made it, deserved it. I know people looked at my numbers and that I could easily be an All-Star this year but other guys deserve it as well. They've had great years and I'm happy for them."
• The rest will be a nice opportunity to get away for a few days but if they call because somebody gets hurt, "I guess you take the honor and go and enjoy it."
• "I don't know if we're as talented as we've been in the past and we've got to find a way to scrap."

Dragic

Goran Dragic was wearing shoes on both feet for the first time this week. He said they are leaving the stitches in his toe a little longer to be safe and that it would be about five days before he can play after the stitches come out.

Phoenix Suns Try For .500 Against Kevin Durant's Thunder Team

The Phoenix Suns had one of their best wins of the year on the road in Oklahoma City when they beat the Thunder 113-110 the day after news of the big trade with Orlando was announced. The Suns were without either their out-going or in-coming players but managed to win behind great games from Grant Hill (30 and 11), Steve Nash (20 and 10) and Robin Lopez (19 and 4).

Suns' Coach Alvin Gentry admitted that while it was a great team win, it also helped that the Suns shot the ball "unbelievably well" and the Thunder missed shots they normally make. In that game Phoenix was 57.5 percent from the field while the Thunder were just 42.9 percent and a miserable 6-21 from long range. 

Thunder star and potential NBA MVP Kevin Durant was asked at morning shootaround if his team "owed one" to the Suns. "I think so," he said.

The key to slowing down the Thunder for the suddenly competent Suns' defense is denying dribble penetration by Russell Westbrook and keeping Durant off the foul line.  

Gentry's Suns' have held opponents to 43.3 percent shooting over their last 11 games. The head coach credited improvements in both team and individual defense along with having more size in the front court with the addition of Marcin Gortat.

For the Thunder, Durant shared his keys to slowing down the Suns.

"Transition defense is the key. Pick and roll defense, I think we have to do a great job. Gortat is playing unbelievable basketball. Playing like one of the best centers in the league right now. Since he's been here his game has kind of blossomed," the budding super-star said.

Durant also had praise for a childhood hero, "Grant Hill is playing unbelievable for his age. He's playing great. He's playing like a 22-year-old."

"I kind of looked up to him as a player. It's cool to see how well he's playing at such an old age. Sorry to put that in there."

The Suns can improve to .500 with a win tonight, but Alvin Gentry doesn't put too much significance on that number. The goal for his team is to make the playoffs and as he said, .500 in the West is like playing par golf on the PGA tour. It is good enough to earn you a seat to watch the rest of the teams in the post season.

The game tips at 7 p.m. local time and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Arizona and Sports 620 KTAR radio. Fans can follow along with other Suns fans at the live game thread at Bright Side of the Sun.

Other Notes and Quotes

Gentry

On the All-Star selections:

• "I'm probably a little bias on that but I don't think think you can argue with the guys they selected. I think our problem came because of our record. We don't have a great record right now and that more than anything cost him a chance to play in the All-Star Game."
• "I think (Nash) deserves to be in the All-Star Game obviously, but I think the fact that he won't be in, he'll have four days rest would be really good for him also."
• "I understand all the guys (selected). I think the guy that is tough to swallow is LaMarcus Aldridge because I think he's played great and his team has played well."
• Gentry said he voted for all seven guys that ended up being selected as reserves. He's not allowed to vote for his own players.

On defensive improvements:

• "I wish I had an answer for that, I really don't know. We've done a pretty good job from a team defensive stand point and I think individually we've done a pretty good job on guys. You add the two together and obviously you should be better defensively."
• "But the fact that we are third in the league in the last 11 games behind Chicago and Boston and we've played some really good offensive teams, that tells me that we have made strides and improvements there. We've got to stay consistent there and keep trying to get better in all the categories."
• Start off with two good sized guys with Robin and Channing and then go to Marcin. Size increased. Done a better job overall with dribble penetration. Great challenge tonight with Westbrook.
• Grant Hill has benefited from playing fewer minutes and not playing for such long stretches.

Kevin Durant

• Wants to see it increased to 15 players on the All-Star Team.
• "Steve Nash is having an All-Star year, of course. He's leading his team. People didn't think they would be up here in the race without Amare but he's doing his job. He's leading these guys."
• I could be a lot better offensively. Missing shots. I am greedy. I want to make every shot.
• I just want to win. If I get 5 or 6 points and shoot 2-30, as long as we win.
• People doubted Russell Westbrook all his career. I'm more excited for it than he is.
• Focused on finished strong before the All-Star break and not having a let-down like some teams do.
• Getting back to where we want to be defensively but not there yet.

On coaching Serge Ibaka in the dunk contest:

• "Really thinking what he can do. He's a guy who can jump so high, he can do about anything. So we just have to use our creative minds and come up with some good things."
• "We watched a couple of dunks (on film) but we don't want to duplicate what guys did already. We want to come up with our own and he does a great job of using his mind and thinking of some stuff. It should be fun for Serge. It's something to get him out there for people to really recognize who he is and I think this will be a good way to do it."

James Harden

• "I'm a lot more comfortable out there on the court."
• Getting more opportunities and playing late in the game and getting some starts. Trying to take advantage of minutes on both ends of the floor.
• It seems like yesterday I was in high school and those two years at ASU went by so fast.

Russell Westbrook

• "It's a great accomplishment. My teammates are the main culprit for me getting in."
• Learning from teammates helped improvement. Everybody has helped. Playing for Team USA had a big effect as well.
• More confident and able to play more physical.
• Is there are target on your back now? "There might be, I can't see back there. If it is, I'm going to continue to be ready and try to take on the challenge and try to continue to get better."
• Watched Steve Nash. He has a great pace to his game, changing speeds well and playing smart. I would like to add that to my game.
• Kevin Love over Nash for Stern pick. He's done a great job putting up crazy numbers. Not just UCLA love. Across the league people said the same thing. He's done a great job leading his team.
• Any special meaning or honor taking a place on the All-Star team that probably would have gone to Nash?
• "Nah, I mean it's different years, different players do different things. This year my goal was to try and continue to get better and better and God's willing I made the All-Star team and hopefully, God's willing, I'll make more. I just try and continue to work and continue to get better."