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Thunderstruck: Oklahoma City tops Suns in desert
posted 12/24/09 11:18 pm
ABC 33/40 News - Thunderstruck: Oklahoma City tops Suns in desert
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(Sports Network) - Kevin Durant scored 11 of his game-high 38 points in the fourth quarter, including a clinching 22-footer in the waning seconds to secure Oklahoma City's 117-113 win over Phoenix at US Airways Center.

The Suns had their 19-game home winning streak snapped on Monday in a loss to Cleveland and have now lost six of their last nine overall.

The Thunder, meanwhile, had lost five of six coming in, including a 111-108 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday, but outrebounded the Suns by a 48-38 margin and forced 14 turnovers to collect the win.

Russell Westbrook filled the stat sheet with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Jeff Green added 17 points and nine boards in victory, which moved Oklahoma City back to .500 (14-14).

Amare Stoudemire finished with 35 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns. Steve Nash donated 24 points and 12 assists, and Channing Frye scored 24 points as well in a losing cause.

A back-and-forth final stanza featured six lead changes and five ties.

Stoudemire's three-point play at the 3:23 mark broke a tie game, but Durant hit two free throws and followed a Stoudemire free throw with a three-point play of his own for a 111-110 lead.

After altering a Stoudemire shot, Green's acrobatic tip-in of a Westbrook miss put the Thunder up by three with just over a minute to play.

A rare miss at the stripe from Nash was followed by a make with 55.9 seconds left. Another big offensive rebound by James Harden extended the next Thunder possession, which ended with Durant drilling a deep deuce from the top of the key for a 115-111 lead with 14.4 seconds to play.

Frye missed a three-pointer, and the Thunder tacked on a huge road victory to their improving resume.

Oklahoma City had little trouble offensively in the first quarter, jumping out to a 36-31 lead. A late 9-0 Suns run in the second frame tied things, and Durant's fade-away jumper gave the Thunder a 66-64 lead at intermission.

A evenly-played third quarter rightfully ended knotted up at 89.

Game Notes

The Oklahoma City franchise had dropped nine straight games to the Suns, last winning on Feb. 14, 2007 when they were the Seattle SuperSonics. The team hadn't won in the desert since a 152-149 double-overtime shootout during the 2005-06 season...Harden and Serge Ibaka netted 14 and 12 points, respectively, off the bench for the Thunder, who had 23 second-chance points compared to just nine for Phoenix...Jason Richardson ended with 13 points for the Suns.



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