Thunder at Suns
The Oklahoma City Thunder thrashed the Phoenix Suns on Friday and attempt to defeat the Suns for the 10th straight time when the rematch is held Sunday in Phoenix. The easy 127-96 victory gave Oklahoma City a three-game winning streak to follow up a lethargic 4-4 stretch. The Thunder are looking to complete a four-game series sweep. The Suns are 4-6 under interim coach Lindsey Hunter and have reached 100 points just once in their last 20 outings.
Oklahoma City’s firepower edge over the Suns was apparent on Friday when guard Thabo Sefolosha and center Kendrick Perkins both had their top scoring outputs of the campaign. The Thunder blew the game open with a 21-0 run in the third quarter and have topped 100 points in 18 of their past 23 games. Phoenix received 25 points from reserve forward Michael Beasley as the reserves outscored the starters, 66-30. “Any competitor would want to have a chance at them again, and I’m sure we do,” Hunter said in reference to the back-to-back meetings.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE THUNDER (38-12): Forward Kevin Durant scored a team-best 21 points on Friday but it was the efforts of Sefolosha and Perkins that stood out. Sefolosha scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers and Perkins scored 17 on 8-of-9 shooting. Perkins also shut down Suns center Marcin Gortat, who had double-doubles in the first two meetings. Gortat scored just two points. “That is the Perk that we need,” Sefolosha said afterwards. “Defensively, he’s doing a great job and offensively, he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
ABOUT THE SUNS (17-34): Hunter is vying to land the permanent coaching gig and has placed a heavy emphasis on teaching. He also is aware that the confidence of the squad is fragile due to the down season and tried to minimize the second-half beat down the Thunder placed on his team. “There is no reason to hang our heads,” Hunter said afterwards. “They’ve played in the finals. They know what it’s like and a lot of our guys don’t. This will be a positive teaching tool for us. Something to learn from and something never to forget.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Oklahoma City has won this season’s three previous meetings by an average of 20.3 points.
2. Thunder PG Russell Westbrook had 17 points against the Suns on Friday to snap a streak of four straight 20-point outings.
3. Suns F Luis Scola had just six points in Friday’s loss and has grabbed just three total rebounds over the last two games.