{"id":351965,"date":"2011-03-31T05:36:28","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T05:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/31\/thunder-finish-franchise-best-14-2-month-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-03-31T05:36:28","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T05:36:28","slug":"thunder-finish-franchise-best-14-2-month-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/thunder-finish-franchise-best-14-2-month-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder finish franchise-best 14-2 month (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

PHOENIX (AP)\u2014Their best regular-season month in franchise history is over.
\nThe Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> look for even better things ahead in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and James Harden<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> scored 22 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder
\ncompleted the best month in franchise history with a 116-98 victory over the
\nfading Phoenix Suns<\/a> on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Michael Westbrook added 16, Serge Ibaka<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> 15 and Kendrick Perkins<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> 13 as the
\nThunder won their fifth in a row, 11th in their last 12 and 50th of the season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first consecutive 50-win seasons for the franchise since 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my first two seasons, we went from 21 wins to 50 win seasons, that
\nis a big turnaround for us and something that can\u2019t be overlooked,\u201d Durant
\nsaid. \u201cI know it is the regular season and it means a lot, but in the
\npostseason it is kind of out the window. It does feel good to get 50 wins as a
\nyoung group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their 14-2 March was the best monthly record in franchise history. As the
\nSeattle SuperSonics, they went 14-3 twice\u2014in March of 1994 and November of
\n1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just on a roll,\u201d Harden said.<\/p>\n

Vince Carter<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> now coming off the bench for Phoenix, scored 28 in the Suns\u2019
\nfourth straight loss. Three of Carter\u2019s top four scoring games for the Suns have
\ncome against Oklahoma City. Carter was benched three games ago in favor of Jared
\nDudley<\/a>(notes)<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just kept playing through it,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI just tried to relieve
\nthose guys and play tough for them. They played a rough one last night (a loss
\nat Sacramento) and we pride ourselves on everyone contributing, so I did just
\nthat. I was being aggressive and hit a few shots in the post and just got going
\nand stuck with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referee Kenny Mauer threw out Suns reserves Aaron Brooks<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Zabian Dowdell<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span>
\nwith 1:05 to play.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City outscored Phoenix 37-25 in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bad night for us,\u201d Suns center Marcin Gortat<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said. \u201cWe played
\nterrible defense. We played with no toughness or physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix trailed 55-51 at the half and never caught the Thunder after that.<\/p>\n

The Suns cut it to one twice, the last time at 60-59 on Gortat\u2019s dunk. But
\nWestbrook made a driving layup, Dudley was called for an offensive foul, then
\nWestbrook made a 7-foot runner and Oklahoma City led 64-59.<\/p>\n

Collison\u2019s 20-footer with 6 seconds left put the Thunder up 79-73 after
\nthree quarters.<\/p>\n

Harden sank a 3-pointer and had a three-point play sandwiched around Eric
\nManor\u2019s 3-pointer in a 8-2 spurt that put Oklahoma City up 87-77. Durant\u2019s
\n3-pointer with 5:18 remaining put the Thunder ahead 92-80 5:18 from the finish.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City outscored Phoenix 23-9 to start the final quarter to go up
\n102-82 after Perkins made four free throws in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t seem to put any offense together to start the fourth
\nquarter,\u201d Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. \u201cThat\u2019s where most of the teams seem
\nto be getting separation between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thunder coach Scott Brooks called Westbrook the unsung hero of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had better stats in the past, but he really controlled the game,\u201d
\nBrooks said. \u201cHe was active on the ball and I thought his command of the game
\nput us in a position to win tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes: With their 115-114 victory over Golden State on Tuesday night, the
\nThunder became the fifth team in NBA history to win eight overtime games in a
\nseason. \u2026 Phoenix fell two games under .500 for the first time since a Feb. 4
\nhome loss to Oklahoma City. \u2026 The Thunder completed their fifth sweep of
\nback-to-back games this year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Originally posted here:
\nThunder finish franchise-best 14-2 month (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (AP)\u2014Their 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-351965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nThunder finish franchise-best 14-2 month (AP) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/thunder-finish-franchise-best-14-2-month-ap\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Thunder finish franchise-best 14-2 month (AP) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"PHOENIX (AP)\u2014Their best regular-season month in franchise history is over. 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