Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 118-110 on Sunday night to take the Western Conference lead, 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 at San Antonio, and this one nearly got away.
“We were able to get the start under control pretty quickly,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And then that was an avalanche in the third and fourth quarter, they really got into a groove there. But I thought we showed great resilience in the fourth to climb back into it after all that.”
Nurkic broke the Phoenix 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 both the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn. After the game, Nurkic said he was unhappy with the officials despite his record.
“It is great, but we lost the game. But it’s kind of really messed up when you have 13 offensive rebounds and 16 shots then zero free throws,” Nurkic said. “As hard as I work, and I feel like [I’m] getting fouled as [much as] anybody in the league.
“And I’m not here saying – we lost the game, it is what it is – [but] it’s just, it’s not really common sense. At least one [free throw]. [To] not even have one? But I know it happens. I ain’t the first one, and I ain’t going to be the last, either, unfortunately.”
Oklahoma City led by 24 before the Suns stormed back to cut it to 86-83 late in the third quarter. Eric Gordon’s three-pointer early in the fourth quarter made it 91-89, the Suns’ first lead since the first quarter.
“We stopped fouling,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel said about what ended up being a 39-8 Phoenix run. “I was trying so hard to get Kevin involved instead of letting the game come to us.”
But the Thunder’s stars kept their poise and came away with the victory.
“I just play the game level-headed, always try to play the next possession in front of me,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Basketball is a game of runs, so it’s ups and downs, you just got to try to turn the tide and you only do that by taking possession by possession. “I try to keep the same mentality no matter what’s going on.”