Durant leads Warriors past Thunder; Kings come up short against Suns
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Warriors lack healthy bodies. They still have a surplus of Allstars, though.
So with the Warriors missing Stephen Curry and a handful of key reserves, the Warriors survived by relying on a simple formula against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 111-107 victory on Tuesday. Hand most of the responsibility to Kevin Durant (34 points), Klay Thompson (20) and Draymond Green (five points, eight assists, four rebounds). If only it were that simple, though, for the Warriors to tell their All-star players to do what they do best.
The Warriors still had to absorb the seemingly inevitable onslaught from Russell Westbrook (44 points on 15-of-26 shooting). They also had to absorb the Thunder taking an 81-80 lead with 1:57 left in the third quarter after last leading midway through the second quarter.
Still, Warriors (57-21) prevented the Thunder (45-34) from becoming the first Western Conference team to beat the Warriors three times in the regular The Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant on the court in Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City.
season since the 2014-15 campaign by delivering in key moments. And they were mostly fueled by their All-stars.
In his third game since missing the previous eight with a fractured right thumb, Thompson shot 9 of 19 from the field and still exerted energy to hustle on defense against Paul George, who had 20 points on only 5-of-19 shooting.
SUNS 97, KINGS 94 Suns rookie forward Josh Jackson tallied a game-high 28 points and center Alex Len came off the bench to record 17 points and 15 rebounds as Phoenix ended a 15-game
losing streak by beating the Kings 97-94 on Tuesday at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
The losing streak was the longest in franchise history for the Suns (2059).
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin Jackson each missed a 3-pointer in the final seven seconds that could have tied the game after the Kings trailed by as many as 14 points.
Bogdanovic led the Kings (25-54) with 22 points. Justin Jackson had 19 points, eight rebounds and a matched his career high with four assists. Willie Cauley-stein finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.