Chris Paul had 20 points and 10 assists, and he scored six critical points in the final 1:03 to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 111-107 road win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
The Thunder have been among the NBA's best clutch-time performers this season, and Paul has been a big reason why.
Just after Paul stole the ball from the Suns' Kelly Oubre Jr., he nailed a fadeaway jumper to break a 99-99 tie.
Paul then hit a pair of free throws after Phoenix came up empty on the next possession to give Oklahoma City some breathing room.
The win was the seventh in eight games for the Thunder and the seventh consecutive on the road. The loss was the fourth in six games for the Suns.
With just under five minutes remaining, Phoenix looked to take control after Oklahoma City briefly took the lead.
The Suns led by one until Oubre drilled a 3-pointer and went to the line on a foul by Steven Adams. Oubre hit free throw to stretch Phoenix's lead to five.
The Suns led by seven two possessions later, but then went cold, missing their next seven shots from the field as the Thunder made their closing push with a 13-0 run.
Things got tight again in the final seconds, though, as Oubre nailed another 3-pointer, this one with nine seconds left, to capitalize on a turnover by Dennis Schroder and pull to within 107-106.
With 4.2 seconds left, Oubre was fouled at midcourt with the Suns down three. After making the first free throw, he missed the second intentionally but was called for a lane violation trying to grab the rebound, and Oklahoma City closed things out on the line.
Danilo Gallinari led the Thunder with 27 points while Schroder added 24 off the bench.
Oubre and Devin Booker scored 27 each for Phoenix, though Booker was just 1 of 5 from behind the 3-point line.
--Field Level Media
Oklahoma City | Phoenix | |
Danilo Gallinari 27 | Scoring | Devin Booker 27 |
Chris Paul 10 | Assists | Ricky Rubio 7 |
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 9 | Rebounds | Kelly Oubre Jr. 11 |
Danilo Gallinari 8 | Free Throws Made | Devin Booker 8 |
Luguentz Dort 3 | Steals | Tyler Johnson 2 |
Steven Adams 1 | Blocks | Deandre Ayton 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Oklahoma City | 111 | 43.3 | 7-31 | 20-22 | 26 | 41 | 4 | 13 | 14 |
Phoenix | 107 | 47.4 | 9-24 | 26-29 | 20 | 40 | 6 | 6 | 20 |