More: Thunder roll Suns in second half
The Phoenix Suns didn't play bad at all Wednesday. They played well enough to beat plenty of other teams, just not the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC saved its best for the fourth quarter and outscored the Suns 31-16 to cruise to a 115-104 at the Chesapeake Energy Center.
The Suns looked as good as ever in the first quarter, leading by as many as 15 points. You had to wonder if it was their night when center Marcin Gortat ran the floor on the break for a dunk, and then when Channing Frye hit a bank-shot three with 4:41 to go to make the score 23-11.
Frye's three made it 53-44 with five minutes left before halftime, and the Suns led by six, 64-58, at halftime. Marcin Gortat had 18 of his career high 28 points by halftime.
At one point in the third quarter, the Suns held an 82-68 advantage and things were looking good when the Thunder's Russell Westbrook was called for a technical foul. But Oklahoma City got busy over the last few minutes of the quarter and trailed by only four after three quarters.
OKC went up 91-90 and kept building on the lead. By the middle of the fourth quarter the Thunder had a seven-point lead and were almost unstoppable with Kevin Durant and Westbrook leading the way.
Durant finished with 30 points, Westbrook 31 with 10 assists and former ASU star James Harden 30 including four 3-pointers. Harden's three made it 109-98 with 3:54 left in the game and Suns were done.
Durant hit a shot over a falling Grant Hill to make it 112-104 on a possession on which the Suns had to have a stop.
The Thunder won its fifth straight over Phoenix and moved to 17-1 at home this season. The Suns' three-game winning streak ended and their record fell to 17-21, even though six players scored in double figures. Gortat had 11 rebounds, Jared Dudley 17 points and 11 boards and Steve Nash 13 assists and 12 points.