Suns burned
This one had so much entertainment value it’s almost a shame someone had to lose it — but fortunately, it wasn’t the Thunder, who sneaked a 117-113 victory out of Phoenix at the tail end (we hope) of a recent tailspin, evening their record at 14-14.
Beating the Suns at home is difficult anyway, and on a night when Amar’e Stoudemire and Steve Nash seemed to be fused together into a single fearsome beast — Stoudemire had 35 points, his season high, and 14 rebounds, while Nash collected 24 points and delivered 12 assists — it had to be more so. Worse, Channing Frye was deadly, hitting four treys on the way to 24 points. Then again, with all these points from the starters, there wasn’t much left for the bench, and indeed the three reserves contributed only 12 points. (The Thunder bench had 34, including two from new arrival Eric Maynor, who also served up five assists.)
OKC worked the boards, retrieving 48 rebounds, 16 offensive. (The Suns had 38 and 8.) Kevin Durant knocked down 11 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a game-high 38; Russell Westbrook was good for 19, and Jeff Green had 17 more. Lots of fouls again: both Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka fouled out, as did Grant Hill of the Suns. Phoenix actually outshot the Thunder, 50 percent to 47.8, but OKC took twelve more shots, and was slightly better beyond the arc, with five of 13 versus seven of 23. There was a brief period in the second quarter when the Thunder had a double-digit lead, but for most of this game, it was seriously close; the last lead change was with 1:47 left.
So the Meteorological Phenomena are 5-6 this month, with the allegedly easier stuff coming up: the Bobcats will be in Saturday, followed by a quickie trip northeast to take on the Nets and the Wizards, then back home on New Year’s Eve to face the Jazz. They should be able to get three of those, maybe all four — but “should” doesn’t mean a thing some nights.
