Thunder roll over Dragic-less Suns, sending Phoenix below .500: By the Numbers

Not having Goran Dragic in the lineup was just one of many problems Sunday for the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns got into early foul trouble in Oklahoma City and were quickly in a hole. The Thunder put up a whopping 41 points in the first quarter, and they led by double-digits most of the way through.

Gerald Green got the start on the road as the reigning Most Improved Player sat out with a back injury. Green shook off a poor performance in Friday’s loss and posted a team-high 15 points against Oklahoma City, but only one other Suns starter reached double-figures.

The Thunder raced to an easy 112-88 victory, winning their sixth game in a row and improving to 11-13. The loss was Phoenix’s fifth in a row, and the team fell to 12-13, including 6-7 on the road.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s blowout, by the numbers:

5

The five-game skid is the Suns’ longest since a 10-game slide from March 20-April 9, 2013. The 2012-13 Suns had several streaks of five or more losses that season, but the 10-game drought was the most severe.

5:18

Phoenix didn’t make a defensive stop until the 5:18 mark of the first quarter, when Anthony Morrow missed a 5-foot shot. Oklahoma City had either made a basket or gotten to the free throw line in each possession leading up to Morrow’s miss. The Suns fouled early and often, getting over the limit roughly five minutes into the start of the game.

10

Starting forward Markieff Morris played a season-low 10 minutes Sunday because of foul trouble, and he finished with just four points and one rebound. He racked up five fouls in those 10 minutes of action.

11

Little-used Suns like Archie Goodwin, T.J. Warren and Tyler Ennis got to play extended minutes in the second half with their team trailing big. Ennis put up a career-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. The rookie point guard made the second three-pointer of his career, and he added two assists and three rebounds in the loss.

12-13

With their 13th loss of the season, the Suns dropped below .500 for the first time all year. They haven’t been below that mark since Nov. 20, 2013, when they were 5-6 — their only time having a sub-.500 record last season.

13

Every foul call seemed to go Russell Westbrook’s way. He got to the free throw line for a whopping 13 attempts, and he made every single one of them. The Thunder guard finished with a game-high 28 points in only 27 minutes. Oklahoma City got a stunning 16 more free throw tries than the Suns did. Phoenix shot 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) from the line, but the Thunder went 30-for-34 (88.2 percent).

14

Phoenix’s previous four losses were all by a combined 14 points, so Jeff Hornacek’s group played each of those teams closely. Sunday’s loss marked the first blowout of the the Suns’ five-game slide.

20

Green and P.J. Tucker both picked up a technical in the first half, giving Phoenix a league-leading 20 on the season. Not exactly a category you want to be leading in.

22.6%

The Suns took plenty of threes Sunday; they just didn’t make many of them. After coming off three straight games of making 10 or more three-pointers, Phoenix converted just seven tries from downtown in 31 attempts, a percentage of 22.6. Oklahoma City wasn’t any better (4-of-18, 22.2 percent), but the Thunder shot much better from the field overall, and their extra free throw attempts helped make the difference.

63-40

Phoenix got killed on the boards 63-40. Both teams grabbed 14 offensive rebounds apiece, so most of the Thunder’s boards came off the many Suns misses, as the visitors took 99 shots and only made 34 of them (34.3 percent). The Thunder also had a 50-40 advantage in points in the paint, so they thoroughly dominated the Suns down low Sunday.

70

Oklahoma City’s 70 points through the first two quarters marked the most anyone has scored in a half on Phoenix this season. The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers were tied for the previous high against Phoenix with 66.

88

The 88 points tied a season low for the Suns. They actually won the last time they scored so few (Nov. 19 in Detroit), but not this time around. Phoenix is just 2-8 in the games it has failed to reach 100 points this season.