Thunder 107, Nuggets 127: The Day After Report
Nuggets & Notes
- With the no. 1 seed locked for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the outcome of this game was virtually meaningless for OKC.
- The injury report for both teams was a mile long, with both teams sitting their star players.
- So really, if you watched all 48 minutes of this one, you are either a dedicated Thunder fan, or you needed your fill of Branden Carlson highlights.
- Honestly, Carlson kind of delivered on that front. He led the team in scoring with 23 points. He grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double. He had 5 dunks. He was also third on the team in assists, and gave us the highlight of the night with his version of the Hartenstein-signature between the legs pass.
- Nikola Topic also got his most meaningful playing time of the year. He logged 39 minutes (his previous high was 12 minutes), scored a career-high 14 points, along with a career-high 11 assists.
- You could see shades of a potential elite distributor. Exhibit A was this savvy pass to Carlson for the easy dunk. Topic had a good read of the court, identified Denver was lost defensively, and fired in a perfect pass for Carlson to get the backdoor dunk.
- Topic did have 8 turnovers. There is still some adjusting to the NBA game that Topic needs to make. Even against Denver's second team, the speed and awareness of NBA-level talent means windows close a lot faster.
- Jared McCain, Aaron Wiggins, and Lu Dort played limited minutes even with the Thunder only having 8 available players. This was about getting the young guys reps. I think if those guys played through the fourth, particularly McCain and Wiggins, OKC might have walked away with a win.
- Denver fans do not like Lu Dort. They were booing him every time he touched the ball. The boos escalated when Dort and David Roddy were both going for a rebound, and Dort's arm crashed into Roddy's face, giving him a bloody nose.
- The boos got really loud and both Denver and its fans were clamoring for the refs to upgrade the foul. The refs did not.
- I mean, it was clearly within the game. Clearly accidental. And Dort checked on Roddy to make sure he was okay.
- 81 games down. 1 more meaningless game to go against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday before the real fun starts.
One Key Takeaway
If there is one intriguing piece to this game, it's playoff seeding for the Nuggets. Spots 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 are locked. The Nuggets are in a battle for the third spot with the banged-up Los Angeles Lakers.
Both the Thunder and the Spurs would rather have the Lakers as a potential second-round matchup. The Nuggets, with home court in the first round locked up, have to decide whether they'd prefer to play the Houston Rockets or Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round (and then Thunder or Spurs in the second). The Nuggets control their own destiny, and if they trot out Nikola Jokic and Jamaal Murray for 30+ minutes on Sunday against the Spurs (who will almost certainly be resting everyone), it would be a pretty good tell that the Nuggets want the Wolves-Spurs pairing.
Also of note, Jokic needs to play on Sunday to be award-eligible, so I'm certain he'll play at least 20 minutes, but will he be joined by Murray and Aaron Gordon?
I guess there is still something to watch on Sunday, even if the Thunder is secure in its fate as the no. 1 seed in the West and the no. 1 overall seed in the NBA.
