Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 118-110 on Sunday night to take the lead in the Western Conference, coming back after blowing a 24-point lead.
Jusuf Nurkic broke the Suns franchise record with 31 rebounds, the most in an NBA game in 14 years. He also had 14 points – and five of Phoenix’s 21 turnovers. The Suns played without star guard Devin Booker after he sprained his ankle in a loss to Houston on Saturday night.
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Oklahoma City improved to 42-18 to take a half-game lead over Northwest Division rivals Denver and Minnesota in the Western Conference. The Thunder had won six in a row before losing Thursday night in San Antonio, and this one almost escaped.
“We were able to control the start pretty quickly,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And then it was an avalanche in the third and fourth quarter, they really got into a rhythm there. But I think we showed great resilience in the fourth to come back after all that.
Nurkic broke Phoenix’s rebound record of 27 set by Tyson Chandler against Atlanta in January 2016. Nurkic’s previous career high was 23 for Portland against Sacramento in January 2019. The seven-footer had 22 this season against the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn. After the match, Nurkic said he was unhappy with the officials despite his record.
“It’s great, but we lost the game. But it’s kind of really wasted when you have 13 offensive rebounds and 16 shots and then no free throws,” Nurkic said. “As hard as I work, and I feel like [I’m] to be clogged like [much as] anyone in the league.
“And I’m not saying here – we lost the game, that’s what it is – [but] It’s just that it’s not really common sense. At least one [free throw]. [To] You don’t even have one? But I know it happens. I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last either, unfortunately.
Oklahoma City led by 24 before the Suns came back to cut the score to 86-83 late in the third quarter. Eric Gordon’s three-pointer early in the fourth quarter made the score 91-89, the Suns’ first lead since the first quarter.
“We stopped fouling,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel said of what ended up being a 39-8 run in Phoenix. “I was trying so hard to get Kevin involved instead of letting the game come to us.”
But the Thunder stars kept their cool and came away with the victory.
“I just play the game with a level head, I always try to play the next possession in front of me,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Basketball is a running game, so it’s up and down, you just have to try to turn things around and you only do that by taking possession by possession. “I try to keep the same mentality no matter what happens.”
