James Harden’s career night takes Oklahoma City Thunder over gritty Phoenix Suns – NBA Recap
The Phoenix Suns have been on a roll off late, but on Wednesday night, they had no answer for James Harden as Oklahoma City Thunder romped to a 109-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Harden scored a career high 40 points on a 12-of-17 shooting, including 5-for7 from the long range and a perfect 11 from the charity stripe to take the game out of the hands of the Suns. Russell Westbrook struggled for the night
and the Suns had Kevin Durant somewhat controlled, but had no way to stop James Harden, who is the hands down favourite to win the sixth man of the year award this season.
"After Kobe and Wade, who's the next best 2-guard? You'd be hard-pressed to find a 2-guard who's playing better. He's really right there” said Suns coach Alvin Gentry about James Harden before the game and Harden responded with
a career high game.
Phoenix started the game strongly, running away with a 19-6 early lead as the Thunder starting five had trouble finding their way in the game. With the Suns leading 21-11, Scott Brooks sent James Harden into the game and things
started falling OKC’s way all of a sudden. With Harden on the floor, the Thunder went on an 18-4 run that lasted 4 minutes and 47 seconds, all the way to the close of the quarter. The run helped OKC grab a 29-25 lead going into the 2nd quarter.
Harden had 10 points already, having played only 5 minutes of the quarter.
The 2nd quarter was fought hard by the two teams, with 4 ties. Phoenix opened the quarter with 5 straight points to take a 30-29 lead over OKC. The Thunder responded and a few ties and lead changes later, a three pointer
by none other than Harden spurred a 9-0 run by OKC due to which they took a 46-39 lead. Phoenix trailed OKC 45-52 at halftime.
OKC held on to the lead throughout the 3rd quarter, although Phoenix was right on their tail. The Suns made some good runs to stay close to OKC. Harden had 10 points in the 3rd period as well. OKC went into
the final period of the game still leading 82-77.
Fisher was fouled while attempting a three in the first play of the final quarter and scored all three from the free throw line to give OKC an 85-77 lead. The Suns were unable to recover from the OKC lead and the Thunder cruised
to a comfortable 109-97 victory at the end. They outscored Phoenix 27-20 in the final period.
James Harden was clearly and by far the player of the night, scoring 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals to go with his game high 40 points.
Kevin Durant had 29 points and 11 rebounds for the night. The rest of the Thunder line up struggled, with Westbrook going 6 of 16 for his 15 points. He had 5 assists as well. Serge Ibaka had only 9 points and 3 rebounds while Kendrick
Perkins had 5 points and 9 rebounds.
Steve Nash was restricted to 12 points and 5 assists by the Thunder defense. Jared Dudley had 21 points and Channing Frye added 13 points and 8 rebounds for Phoenix.
The Suns shot a poor 6 of 20 from the three point line, compared to 6 of 16 for OKC. The Thunder were also 31 of 34 from the foul line while the Suns managed to score only 23 of their 32 free throw attempts.
Phoenix now have to win all four of their remaining games in the regular season in order to make it into the playoffs. That will be an uphill task, considering that the Suns play L.A Clippers next, followed by Denver Nuggets,
Utah Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs.
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