Suns at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are losers of three in a row and will try to snap out of the slide when they return home to host the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. The Thunder began the season with three straight wins but have since fallen on hard times while struggling to close out games on both ends.
Oklahoma City was outscored 12-1 down the stretch in a 103-98 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and failed to get the stops it needed on defense late in a 104-98 loss at Chicago the next night. “We have to figure it out,” Star forward Kevin Durant told reporters. “We have to get stops. We have to buckle down and get them. There’s no way around it. We just have to do it.” The Suns are trying to find their groove as well as they make a brief trip to face the Thunder before returning home for four straight. Phoenix is trying to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time this season after falling at home to the Detroit Pistons 100-92 on Friday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), FSN Oklahoma
ABOUT THE SUNS (3-3): Phoenix starts two point guards (Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight) and gives another (Ronnie Price) significant minutes off the bench but still managed to record more turnovers (16) than assists (14) in Friday’s setback. “I thought we were delayed on a lot of our passes from everybody,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters. “It’s, ‘let’s make a play, and then I’ll pass it,’ instead of making a play and knowing that you’re going to be able to pass it here and there.” Bledsoe and Knight both managed to score 22 points in the loss but were a combined 17-of-42 from the field.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (3-3): Oklahoma City is learning a new system under first-year coach Billy Donovan, who is seeing progress even in the losses. “We played a little bit cleaner, we played a little bit more efficiently, we made some strides in a positive direction,” Donovan told reporters after Thursday’s setback. “The result is not what we want, but addressing the turnovers was much better. We had better ball movement. At times we moved it pretty well. At times defensively we did a pretty good job.” Kevin Durant (29.8 points) and Russell Westbrook (27.2, 10.5 assists) are having little trouble with the new system.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thunder C Steven Adams (back) left Thursday’s game and is day-to-day.
2. Phoenix F Markieff Morris is shooting 36.3 percent from the field.
3. Oklahoma City took three of the four meetings last season, with two going to overtime.