Thunder finish franchise-best 14-2 month (AP)

PHOENIX (AP)—Their best regular-season month in franchise history is over.
The Oklahoma City Thunder look for even better things ahead in the playoffs.

Kevin Durant(notes) and James Harden(notes) scored 22 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder
completed the best month in franchise history with a 116-98 victory over the
fading Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.

Michael Westbrook added 16, Serge Ibaka(notes) 15 and Kendrick Perkins(notes) 13 as the
Thunder won their fifth in a row, 11th in their last 12 and 50th of the season.

It’s the first consecutive 50-win seasons for the franchise since 1998.

“After my first two seasons, we went from 21 wins to 50 win seasons, that
is a big turnaround for us and something that can’t be overlooked,” Durant
said. “I know it is the regular season and it means a lot, but in the
postseason it is kind of out the window. It does feel good to get 50 wins as a
young group.”

Their 14-2 March was the best monthly record in franchise history. As the
Seattle SuperSonics, they went 14-3 twice—in March of 1994 and November of
1996.

“We’re just on a roll,” Harden said.

Vince Carter(notes), now coming off the bench for Phoenix, scored 28 in the Suns’
fourth straight loss. Three of Carter’s top four scoring games for the Suns have
come against Oklahoma City. Carter was benched three games ago in favor of Jared
Dudley(notes).

“I just kept playing through it,” Carter said. “I just tried to relieve
those guys and play tough for them. They played a rough one last night (a loss
at Sacramento) and we pride ourselves on everyone contributing, so I did just
that. I was being aggressive and hit a few shots in the post and just got going
and stuck with it.”

Referee Kenny Mauer threw out Suns reserves Aaron Brooks(notes) and Zabian Dowdell(notes)
with 1:05 to play.

Oklahoma City outscored Phoenix 37-25 in the fourth quarter.

“It was a bad night for us,” Suns center Marcin Gortat(notes) said. “We played
terrible defense. We played with no toughness or physicality.”

Phoenix trailed 55-51 at the half and never caught the Thunder after that.

The Suns cut it to one twice, the last time at 60-59 on Gortat’s dunk. But
Westbrook made a driving layup, Dudley was called for an offensive foul, then
Westbrook made a 7-foot runner and Oklahoma City led 64-59.

Collison’s 20-footer with 6 seconds left put the Thunder up 79-73 after
three quarters.

Harden sank a 3-pointer and had a three-point play sandwiched around Eric
Manor’s 3-pointer in a 8-2 spurt that put Oklahoma City up 87-77. Durant’s
3-pointer with 5:18 remaining put the Thunder ahead 92-80 5:18 from the finish.

Oklahoma City outscored Phoenix 23-9 to start the final quarter to go up
102-82 after Perkins made four free throws in a row.

“We just can’t seem to put any offense together to start the fourth
quarter,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “That’s where most of the teams seem
to be getting separation between us.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks called Westbrook the unsung hero of the night.

“He’s had better stats in the past, but he really controlled the game,”
Brooks said. “He was active on the ball and I thought his command of the game
put us in a position to win tonight.”

Notes: With their 115-114 victory over Golden State on Tuesday night, the
Thunder became the fifth team in NBA history to win eight overtime games in a
season. … Phoenix fell two games under .500 for the first time since a Feb. 4
home loss to Oklahoma City. … The Thunder completed their fifth sweep of
back-to-back games this year.