OKC Dismantles Phoenix In The Desert

The city of Phoenix has to be glad the sun has set on its season series against the Thunder.

Oklahoma City smashed Phoenix 97-69 again on Sunday night in the desert even without Kevin Martin in the lineup because of an illness.

The 69-points allowed matched a season-best for OKC, tying the 114-69 thrashing of the Bobcats back on Nov. 26. The Thunder beat Phoenix for the fourth time in four tries this season, winning by an average of 22.25 points per game.

It was the second victory in three days for Big Blue against the Suns after trouncing them 127-96 on Friday night in OKC.

And for the second-consecutive game, Thabo Sefolosha set a season high for points. Sefolosha scored 18 against the Suns on Friday and responded by scoring 20 points on Sunday night, including a career-best 5-of-7 performance from the 3-point line.

Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 24 points in 28 minutes, completely outplaying Suns' point guard Goran Dragic, who he limited to six points and three turnovers. Westbrook hit 8-of-15 shots from the floor and added six assists and four steals despite sitting the entire fourth quarter with a big lead already built.

Kevin Durant scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds.

This was the fourth-consecutive victory for the Thunder overall and OKC has blown out its opponents so decisively on each occasion that the starters have been able to sit for the majority or all of the fourth quarter.

OKC led 74-48 at the end of the third against Phoenix and no Suns player had scored in double figures by that points. Reserve forward Markieff Morris ended up leading the team in scoring with 12 points and Phoenix's starting lineup scored a total of 26 points in the contest.

The Suns' starters only scored 30 against OKC on Friday.

The Thunder held Phoenix to 33 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers, leading to 20 OKC fast-break points. Phoenix's struggles continue as the Suns fell to 17-35 on the season and have the worst record in the Western Conference.

With the victory, Oklahoma City improved to 39-12 and sits a half-game back of San Antonio for first place. The Thunder also improved to 16-9 on the road.

The Thunder returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to face Utah (28-24) at 8 p.m. in Energy Solutions Arena.