20 -- Seattle’s lead at the end of the first quarter, as they jumped out to a 33-13 lead at the end of the first. The Sonics couldn’t hold it though, losing to Phoenix 104-96.

39-- Seattle’s shooting percentage for the game, as the Sonics struggled putting the ball in the basket.

6-- The number of minutes Chris Wilcox played, returning from a left sprained ankle injury. Wilcox dislocated his right pinkie finger midway through the first quarter and had to leave the game. It’s too bad because Wilcox was playing well up to that point and could have helped Seattle in this one. He finished with four points and three rebounds.

25-- The number of assists Phoenix had, on 36 field goals. Pretty impressive. Steve Nash led the way with 10 assists.

14 and 12 -- The points and rebound totals for Kurt Thomas in his return to Phoenix. Thomas finished with a double-double for the second time this season.

Boxscore -- Check it out here.

Durant watch -- Kevin Durant was solid tonight, finishing with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the floor and seven rebounds. But he had some costly turnovers late in the game on the offensive end.

“I turned the ball over twice and that was two key plays in the game,” Durant said. “I apologize to my teammates for making bad decisions, but we played hard and hopefully we’ll come out and play our next game with this same type of energy and we’ll be all right.”

Did you see that? -- In the first quarter Durant had a nice alley-oop feed on the break to Jeff Green who finished with a strong flush. It’s a play Sonics fans will see a lot more of as these two cornerstones of the franchise continue to grow together.

Overheard -- Former teammates Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas were going back and forth most of the game. Two particular plays stick out. Stoudemire had a forceful dunk over Thomas in the second quarter and as he backpedaled he had some choice words for Thomas. Thomas just smiled and ran back down the floor.

Later in the game Thomas picked up a charge against a driving Stoudemire near the Phoenix bench that Suns’ players thought was a questionable call. And Thomas walked over to the bench to let them know the call was legit. They didn't believe him.

Final take -- Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said this game was a lot like Boston in that Seattle played well for a lot of the game, but like so many other games against good teams the Sonics couldn’t make enough basketball plays at the end of the game to win it.

Losing Wilcox hurt because Nick Collison had to play starters’ minutes and Seattle had one less person to go to off the bench. Wally Szczerbiak struggled for the second straight night shooting the ball, finishing 4-of-10 with eight points.

Jeff Green has responded to being inserted in the small forward spot. In three games as a starter he’s averaging 16 points and four rebounds. Green has done all of the little things for Seattle with the starting unit, and he doesn’t need a lot of touches to get points, either crashing the boards or getting points running the floor.

Earl Watson also had played well the last several games. In his last five games he’s averaging 12.4 points and 7.4 assists a game.

Listen to Carlesimo talk about the game here.