PHOENIX SUNS

Suns Strokes: Phoenix Suns hold on, grab overtime win over Oklahoma City Thunder

Feb 27, 2015, 8:08 AM | Updated: 2:29 pm

PHOENIX — Because Oklahoma City enjoyed its Wednesday night in Phoenix, no doubt watching their upcoming opponent end a five-game losing streak with a win in Denver, the odds of a second Suns’ victory in as many nights looked very long, bleak in fact.

HA!

Knowing how important each game is this late in the season, the Suns recorded arguably their best win of the season in front of 17,514 at US Airways Center, 117-113, needing overtime to stop the Thunder’s season-best seven-game win streak, the longest active streak in the NBA.

All five Suns (31-28) starters scored in double figures, led by Markieff Morris’ team-high 29 points and Eric Bledsoe who fell one assist shy of what would’ve been his third triple-double of the season.

Russell Westbrook reached double figures in points (39), rebounds (14) and assists (11). It was his second consecutive triple-double and league-leading fourth of the season.

Bledsoe and P.J. Tucker had four points apiece in overtime as the Suns, wearing their new gray, sleeved alternate jerseys, outscored the Thunder 8-4. Tucker’s two free throws with 0.3 left sealed the win, just the Suns’ second over a top-10 Western Conference team in the last 12 tries.

Bledsoe finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. He added a steal and a career-high four blocked shots.

The victory put the Suns into a ninth-place tie with the New Orleans Pelicans, 1.5 games behind Oklahoma City (32-26) in the race for the final playoff spot in the West.

THE GOOD

What a start. It took the Suns all of five seconds to score the game’s first points as Tucker set up Markieff Morris for an alley-oop dunk. The Suns jumped in front 9-0 — quite the change from the 8-0 hole they fell into the night before in Denver — and took a 13-point lead, 20-7, at 3:42.

Markieff Morris needed just four-plus minutes to surpass his five-point effort in Denver. After the slam, he hit a 17-foot jumper and eight-foot turnaround jump shot for six quick points. And he was just getting warmed up. Morris finished the period with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Morris added another seven points in the second quarter for a total of 16 first-half points, the only Suns player in double figures at the break. Though it should be mentioned Bledsoe was well on his way to a triple-double with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists plus a steal and two blocked shots.

Bledsoe accounted for 18 of the Suns’ 33 third-quarter points with 11 points, including seven straight during one 79-second stretch, and three assists. But it was Marcus Morris with seven of the team’s last eight points to give the Suns an 86-84 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

It began with a Markieff Morris 3-pointer and ended with an Alex Len lay-up as the Suns scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to take a 95-84 lead at 8:16. Len, by the way, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season and his fifth-straight double-digit rebounding game, the longest of his career.

THE BAD

Westbrook, the NBA’s second-leading scorer, misfired on all eight of his first-quarter shots, contributing to the Thunder’s 21.7 percent shooting (5-of-23). Twice Oklahoma City had stretches in which they missed six consecutive field goal attempts and finished with but 15 points, tying a season first-quarter scoring low.

D.J. Augustin scored eight of his 10 first-half points in the second quarter, one in which the Thunder outscored the Suns, 33-28, including a 5-0 close to the period to go into the locker room trailing 53-48. Augustin also had three assists accounting for seven points.

The Suns followed up their 1-of-5 first-quarter foul shooting with a 2-of-4 performance in the second quarter. Marcus Morris had the most difficult time, missing three of his four attempts. The Thunder, meanwhile, shot 12-of-13 from the free throw line in the first half.

The Thunder scored six quick points to take their first lead of the game only 89 seconds into the third quarter. They added two more scores to make it 10 unanswered points, part of a larger 16-4 run capped by Kyle Singler’s 3-pointer, his only one of the game, for a 64-57 lead at 7:58.

Westbrook accounted for 22 of the Thunder’s 36 third-quarter points with 12 points, including one 3-pointer and five free throws, and four assists. He then went off for 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a three-point play with 13.4 seconds to play to tie the game at 109.

STAT OF THE GAME

1-4: The Suns’ record in overtime games this season

HE SAID IT

“Obviously it was a big game for us, to keep us close (in the playoff race),” head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “We’ve had some of those this year when we’ve made mistakes and we’ve lost…maybe getting a win like that will help us going forward with some of these games.”

NOTED

• The Suns beat the Thunder for the third straight time at home and improved to 2-2 in games on TNT, 5-9 in the second games of back-to-back sets

• Among those who enjoyed the overtime thriller were Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Padres outfielder Matt Kemp—sitting seven seats apart courtside—plus Albert Pujols and Mike Trout from the Angels

• The NBA’s two most ‘T’d up’ players, Westbrook and Markieff Morris earned themselves double technicals — their 13th and 12th of the season, respectively — at the 5:08 mark of the first quarter

• The NBA rescinded Marcus Morris’ late second-quarter technical foul at Denver, so his updated season total remains seven, tied with Bledsoe for second-most on the team

• The Suns’ 65 rebounds (23 offensive and 42 defensive, both season-highs) at Denver was the most by any NBA team in a game this season and the most by a Suns team since recording 67 in a win at Dallas on Feb. 17, 1998

UP NEXT

The mini two-game homestand concludes with a visit by the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

This is the third of four meetings this season.

Each club has won once on their home floor. The Suns protected home court, winning 94-89 in the season’s second game. The Spurs then answered with a 100-95 victory at AT&T Center on Jan. 9 in which the Suns entered the fourth quarter up 10, 69-59.

The Suns have lost 31 of the last 45 regular season contests against San Antonio.

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