PHOENIX — Thabo Sefolosha made a career-high 5 of 7 3-pointers and the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the Phoenix Suns for the second game in a row 97-69 on Sunday night.
The 28-point blowout followed a 127-96 Thunder romp over the Suns in Oklahoma City on Friday night.
“We played the same as we did last time,” Russell Westbrook said. “I think we did a good job of that, and maybe even better this time.”
Westbrook scored 24 points in 28 minutes in the Thunder’s 10th straight victory over Phoenix, the longest active streak for any Suns opponent.
Sefolosha added 20 points, two shy of his career high. Kevin Durant scored 18, 11 below his NBA-leading season average (29.1), in limited duty in the Thunder’s fourth straight win, none of them by fewer than a 21-point margin.
Sefolosha set a season high for the second straight game after getting 18 against the Suns on Friday.
The one-sided wins are giving everybody plenty of time on the court.
“The thing about our team, we have guys who can come in and do a good job when needed,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “There are some guys who don’t get to play, but it nice for them to get opportunities.”
Markieff Morris was the only Phoenix player in double figures with 12.
Wesley Johnson’s tip-in with 7.8 seconds to play prevented the Suns from setting a franchise scoring low, a mark that has stood for nearly 32 years. Phoenix scored 68 at Kansas City on March 8, 1981.
“Never in my career I get beat two games in a row by so many points,” said the Suns’ Goran Dragic, who scored six points on 2 of 7 shooting. “It was a tough game. I mean, they’re one of the better teams in the league. They were controlling the game from the start. We didn’t know what we were doing defensively, offensively.”
Durant was just 1 for 5 shooting in the first quarter but Oklahoma City still led 27-16. The Thunder scored the last eight in the quarter, including a pair of 3s from the corner by Sefolosha. Sefolosha made another one to start the second quarter, capping the run at 11-0 and putting Oklahoma City up 30-16.
Phoenix crawled back, cutting it to 35-32 on P.J. Tucker’s rebound basket, but the Thunder scored the next nine, including another 3 for Sefolosha, and it was 45-32.
Oklahoma City finished the half with a 16-2 run, Westbrook’s 3 at the buzzer putting the Thunder up 51-34.
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