In a Hard Fought Battle Suns Beat Thunder

Photo Credit: nba.com/suns

By Francisco Romero

With five games remaining in the regular season the Phoenix Suns are playing to stay alive in the playoff picture.  The Suns beat the Thunder in a hard fought game 122-115 Sunday night, and moved one game ahead of Memphis in eighth place; Memphis lost to San Antonio.

With 2:39 to play Kevin Durant scored two free throws to give the Thunder a 112-111 lead; that was the last time that Oklahoma City led during the game.

Phoenix scored the next ten points while Kevin Durant scored a three-pointer, but was not enough to beat the suns.

With the win Phoenix improve to 46-31 while the Thunder’s record stand at 55-21.

The loss shadowed Durant’s performance who scored 38 point passing Michael Jordan with 41 games in a row scoring 25 points or more.  Wilt Chamberlain has the record with 80 straight games.

“They kept fighting and putting the pressure on them. We tried to get a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter,” said Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek after the game. “Credit goes to our guys for finally getting some stops at the end of the game that allowed us to win,” the head coach added.

For the Suns Goran Dragic finished the game with 26 points while P.J. Tucker scored 22.  Phoenix finished the game shooting 58 percent from the field.

It will be a tough stretch for the Suns, as they will play four of the last five games on the road.  The Suns will face Memphis one more time at home on April 14^th; the next game will be Wednesday in New Orleans.

For the Thunder Russell Westbrook finished the game with 33 points and eight assists.

The Thunder will visit Sacramento on Tuesday.