The Suns lost the game 124-120 to the Thunder in front of a crowd of 17897 at Paycom Center on Sunday afternoon after failing to maintain their lead by more than ten points in the fourth quarter.
Suns coach Monty Williams admitted responsibility by saying that he will take the blame for the recent poor performance of the team, particularly in defense. He believes that he needs to strategize on getting more players involved in the game to establish a rhythm and stop opponents from consistently scoring 30-point quarters. Therefore, it is his task to identify which players can contribute most effectively. The bench players work together in a defensive manner to boost both their offensive and defensive power.
Booker was the top scorer for the game with 46 points, however, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander managed to score 40 points, and with an 18-2 run, the Thunder were able to turn the game in their favor after being behind by 10 points. This led to them securing their first win against Phoenix this season.
"The game was supposed to be close until the end, and that's exactly what happened," commented Chris Paul, the experienced point guard for the Suns.
Phoenix has lost four out of its past five games and was leading by 15 points before losing to the Thunder who currently stand at 35-36. They will face each other again on April 2 at OKC.
Booker stated that every game is important at this stage of the season and it is crucial to gain as many victories as possible. Unfortunately, they lost a game they should have won.
The Suns surrendered 31 points due to an extraordinary 14 turnovers.
"Whenever we made a mistake and gave away the ball, it resulted in our opponents scoring 3 pointers or getting fouled and scoring an additional point. According to Suns player Josh Okogie, for every turnover we gave away, we lost more than two points. Hence, each time we made a mistake with the ball, it was essentially like giving our opponents two points or more." The crucial part of the game, in my opinion, is scoring points.
Phoenix was defeated in terms of free throws, with the Thunder making 29 out of 36 attempts while the Suns only managed to make 17 out of 24.
The referees penalized the Suns with 31 fouls, whereas OKC only received 20.
Williams acknowledged that the Suns have been discussing their high number of fouls for some time. Their average of 21.4 committed fouls per game places them at the 26th spot in the NBA. He noted that this tendency to foul puts them among the worst teams in the league, and said that they must address this issue and make changes.
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Durant and Ayton both did not go to Oklahoma City.
"It's terrible," commented Landry Shamet, a Suns guard who had been absent for two months due to a foot injury. "We toyed around with the game and didn't play as well as we should have, particularly in the final moments."
Williams highlighted that the game-changing action for the Thunder was Gilgeous-Alexander's completion of a 3-point play with only 0.4 seconds left in the third quarter, which was made possible by Cameron Payne's turnover.
During the review of a play before the end of the quarter, Booker received his fourth foul. This allowed OKC to score a basket and earn an additional point, bringing their total score to 96-90 and reducing their deficit to six points going into the fourth quarter.
Williams commented that it had been a challenging conversation.
During the fourth quarter, Phoenix managed to increase their lead by 10 points. However, Oklahoma City quickly retaliated with a powerful 18-2 run, resulting in them taking the lead of 108-102 with roughly 5 and a half minutes left in the game. As a result, Williams had no choice but to call a timeout.
The Thunder extended their lead to a ten-point advantage of 119-109 and managed to endure an onslaught of scoring by Booker.
In the final moments of the game, the talented guard from Phoenix managed to score nine of his team's last 11 points. This included making a 3-point shot that reduced OKC's lead to just two points, with only 8.9 seconds remaining on the clock.
With Phoenix having no timeouts left, Lu Dort secured the game victory by making two free throws at the 4.8-second mark.
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