Thunder 121, Nuggets 111: The Day After Report
In their first matchup since last year’s seven-game conference semifinals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder and Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets squared off with significant pieces missing from both sides. Denver was without Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and new addition Cam Johnson, while Oklahoma City was down Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso, and new-to-primetime rotation piece Ajay Mitchell. The playoff atmosphere, however, was fully intact.
Like last postseason, Shai out-MVP’d Jokic head-to-head. SGA nearly doubled Jokic’s box score output across the board, finishing with 34 points, 13 assists, five rebounds, two steals and one block on 68.8% shooting. He carved up anyone Denver left to guard him one-on-one with a filthy 6-6 night from midrange.
OKC looked like themselves—the better team—once again.
Final: Thunder def. Nuggets, 121–111
Notes & More Notes
- On the night both Chet Holmgren (14 points, 3 blocks) and Jamal Murray (12 points, 12 assists) were announced as All-Star reserves, their teammates put on a three-point shootout. OKC shot 44.2% from deep, hitting 19 threes, fueled by a career night from Cason Wallace (25 points, 7–9 from three). Denver made 14 threes of their own at a 45.2% clip.
- Lu Dort and company made life miserable for Murray, who went 4-16 from the field.
- While the Nuggets were hot from deep, the Thunder held them to just 31 three-point attempts, below both Denver’s and Oklahoma City's norm.
- Peyton Watson and Jokic provided highlights early, posterizing Chet and flashing a circus no-look assist, respectively, in the first quarter. But OKC rediscovered their mojo by "mucking it up" as Jaylin Williams so eloquently put it a while back.
- Jokic was sloppy in his second game back from a knee injury that had sidelined him since late December, committing six turnovers and starring in several lost-in-space episodes from the consensus best player in the world:
- Hartenstein made his first start in 18 games, and OKC’s guard rotation joined the double-big frontcourt to outwork Jokic and Denver on the offensive glass.
- Cason point: Wallace collected three of OKC’s nine first half offensive rebounds himself.
- A Kenrich Williams and-one put OKC up 27-19 in the first, foreshadowing the Thunder engine revving up higher than the Nuggets'. Williams later delivered a key second-quarter recovery steal to flip a fast-break scoring swing back in OKC’s favor. Heart of a champion stuff from Kenny Hustle.
- Wallace added his customary two steals, pacing a Thunder defense that forced more turnovers (17 to 13) and won the offensive rebounding battle (12 to 8).
- Hartenstein erased one of his own turnovers by chasing down Jamal Murray to prevent a layup in transition.
- OKC led wire to wire. Denver rallied to pull within 62-55 at halftime and trimmed the margin to three midway through the third, but the Thunder answered with a decisive 12-0 flurry of three-pointers built an insurmountable 89-74 lead.
- Social media turns even reasonable, smart people into stupid conspiracy theorists. That's what I'm reminding myself every time Twitter follows along as the Thunder win on national TV. OKC was called for one more foul than Denver and took the same amount of free throws. This enraged the hivemind, which is convinced OKC should actually get whistled twice as much as their opponents.
- When you watch Shai play his game instead of the frustrated reactions of the defenders who can’t stop him, you’ll be disabused of the notion that SGA scores by foul-hunting.
- Denver defaulted to the swarm-Shai defense that opponents have been employing of late, and SGA's teammates cashed in the open looks he generated after drawing most of Denver’s attention. The Thunder made 10(!) threes off of Shai assists. This is the equivalent of Steph passing to a bunch of downhill 4-on-3s when teams trapped him at his peak. Shai is just working his historic shooting gravity from the inside-out.
- SGA made it to the line to make 10 of 11 ethical, beautiful free throws when Denver was too out of position and desperate to stop him from shooting without fouling.
- More Isaiah Joe, please. He's the scheme-breaker. Within 90 seconds of a second-quarter stretch, Isaiah Joe punished Denver for going zone and for trapping Shai with multiple three-point bombs.
- Joe is not a standstill offensive player who merely draws gravity to the corner. He is capable and willing to move off ball, screen, relocate, and put the ball on the floor when the defense invites it. Related: OKC gets Joe wide open on inbounds plays so often you'd think the slob wizard was still on the team.
One Key Takeaway: Threes
The rebounding issues have been soul-crushing this season, and arguably indicative of a drop in red-line intensity from the Thunder that never waned last year. But when healthy, rebounding was not such a significant factor between Thunder wins and losses during last year’s championship campaign. For multiple seasons, three-point shooting has been a much stronger barometer of when OKC goes from invincible to beatable.
The three-point x-factor is starkest when Dort and/or Wallace get hot. Oklahoma City can live with their other offensive limitations when they knock down threes while locking down the perimeter. That’s more than enough to swing a winning margin in OKC’s favor against the NBA's best competition.
