OKC Thunder Down the Short-Handed Nuggets
The Oklahoma City Thunder – following a tight loss to the Sacramento Kings – took on the Denver Nuggets, who were without Nikola Jokic. The Thunder won the game 101-99.
In a second effort, the Thunder drew up a play for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who knocked down a mid-range push shot to give Oklahoma City a 2-point lead with second remaining. Lu Dort then played the game-winning defense on Jamal Murray and OKC snagged a win over the No. 1 team in the West.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points and the eventual game winner on 13-of-21 shooting. He added five assists and five rebounds to his stat line.
They started the first quarter off hot, jumping on the Nuggets 27-18 led by Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, who combined for 18 points. The Nuggets were feeling the absence of Jokic, as they were tied with the Thunder duo after the first frame.
The duo didn’t stop through the rest of first half, as they finished the first half with a combined 32 points. They led the Nuggets 52-47 at the mid-way point.
Murray picked up the slack of Jokic’s absence with 16 first half points of his own.
The third quarter would sing the same tune, as the two teams went back and forth, but the Thunder ultimately won the third quarter 29-27 behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s 12-point quarter. They maintained their lead for the majority of the third quarter, but getting down as much as one bucket at one point.
In the fourth frame, the game would remain interesting, as the Thunder would never build their lead too big, so the Nuggets got the game within striking distance towards the end of the game.
Denver tied the game with 30 seconds remaining in the game after two free throws. With the next possession, the Thunder tried to run an iso for Gilgeous-Alexander, but a double team shut that down. They failed to find a good look, forcing Mark Daigneault to call a timeout with five seconds on the shot clock.
The 6-foot-6 guard saw plenty of help from Josh Giddey, who posted 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting.
Murray — in the absence of Jokic — scored 26 points on 11-of-23 shooting. The Nuggets had seven different double-digit scorers, yet fell short.
With no rebuttal from the Nuggets, the Thunder won 101-99.
The Thunder's next bit of action will come on Jan. 25 against the Atlanta Hawks.
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