The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the most impressive teams in the NBA this season and they have been nearly unbeatable at home, where they will host the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
The team has gone 22-3 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and the Thunder have been stellar on offense, scoring a league-leading 106.2 points per game. Kevin Durant has led the way for the team while Russell Westbrook has provided a spark in the passing game.
Coach Scott Brooks has been pleased with the play of the team, but he said he wants his players to start clamping down on defense. The team is allowing 97.4 points per game and on Friday the Thunder gave one of their best performances, defeating Golden State 119-98 on Wednesday.
The Thunder have won has won 28 straight games when holding opponents to 98 points or fewer and the team held the Warriors to just 19 points in the third quarter.
"I'm looking for us to just continue to bring the effort on the defensive end," Brooks said. "I've always felt with our guys as the season has gone and the years have gone by that offensively we're going to keep improving in that area but we wanted to focus on defense."
Durant led the way with 25 points, while Westbrook has 22 and Kevin Martin added 21, giving the Thunder consecutive wins for the first time in three weeks. Durant is leading the NBA in scoring with 29.3 points per game and Westbrook has been excellent as well, ranking seventh in the league with 22.6 points.
Oklahoma City has been excellent against Phoenix lately, winning the last eight matchups, including two this past season. The team is averaging 112 points over that stretch and in the last meeting in January, Durant Westbrook scored nearly 50 points.
The Thunder have been excellent at home recently, winning 18 of 19 games, while Phoenix has been awful on the road, losing 16 of the past 19. The Suns are coming into the game after a 93-84 loss against New Orleans, scoring just 13 points in the fourth quarter.
"Tough, tough loss for us," said interim coach Lindsey Hunter, who is 4-5 since taking over for Alvin Gentry on Jan. 20. "Not many positives can be taken from the game. Like I said, I am discouraged but I am still encouraged because I know where we are going to be and I know how we are going to do it."
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