Thunder Star From Distance, Derail Nuggets' Win Streak

The Oklahoma City Thunder shot a season-best from three in Wednesday's meeting.

Ever since Mark Daigneault took the helm two seasons ago, one motto has held firm – next man up mentality.

With a Thunder roster depleted of Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, and Derrick Favors, among others, Oklahoma City entered the Mile High City with only nine members on the roster.

They panned gold.

In the weekday matchup, the Thunder excavated the Nuggets 119-107. For OKC, the win moves them to 20-42 on the season.

As for the Nuggets, the loss puts a halt to a six-game winning streak.

Oklahoma City played up a few sizes with a frontcourt tandem in Aleksej Pokusevski and Isaiah Roby, opening the contest with a 9-2 run. Two minutes later, OKC struck an 11-4 jab with seven points tied to Roby. The Thunder lead stood firm until the final two minutes, in which a 7-0 Denver run evened the game at 24.

Denver’s second unit acclimated to the weather in the second, opening the frame with five-consecutive makes en route to a 14-1 run, and a double-digit lead. The tides shifted upon Daigneault implementing his starters, as a 14-2 counter surged the Thunder back in front. By the halftime horn, Oklahoma City trailed 54-52.

The first 24 minutes hosted a free-throw contest as the Nuggets and Thunder hoisted 14 foul shots, respectively, with the Thunder attempting 10 tries in the second quarter.

The third quarter of play lived at the perimeter. Oklahoma City poached from the perimeter in the third quarter to net their first 5-of-8 shots from distance. On the flipside, Denver went sledding from deep, shooting 2-of-11 to begin the third. However, three-consecutive threes, including a four-point play marked a 10-0 run, and wiped a nine-point Thunder lead. Oklahoma City reclaimed their three-point prowess late, ending the third 7-of-11 on threes for an 86-79 lead.

Oklahoma City’s play snowballed into the fourth quarter, stacking their lead to 10 in the first two minutes of run. The Nuggets teetered between three-and-four possession deficits for the majority of the half, resulting in their starters needing to step in late – they came up short.

Denver’s starters had a rough going from three, shooting 0-of-24 until the last possession dropped one into the bucket. With his starters underperforming, he called upon his bench for 58 points while Nikola Jokic, matched against a much smaller Isaiah Roby, accrued 22 points and 16 rebounds.

Bones Hyland led all bench scorers with 19 points on a 5-of-6 streak from three.

Oklahoma City’s three-point precision became the biggest story out of Denver as they shot a season-best 16-of-29 from distance.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added to his post-injury hot streak Wednesday, posting 26 points and seven rebounds. SGA sunk the nail in the coffin for Denver as the 23-year-old added an and-one reverse layup and a stepback three inside 90 seconds to push OKC up 11.

Isaiah Roby made the most out of his starting opportunity, churning out a career-high 26 points and seven rebounds at the starting five. Despite taking on Nikola Jokic, Roby utilized his 6-foot-8 frame to space the floor for a 4-of-5 three-point clip and dig inside off of rim runs. As a result, he tallied 13 points in the first half.

Despite sporadic minutes, Roby has continued to perform in his third-year campaign. It’ll be interesting how his role is impacted with a fully-healthy frontcourt.

Vit Krejci struggled heavily guarding the perimeter on Wednesday, resulting in a trio of Nuggets threes, though his offensive play was evident. In his 21 minutes, the Czech guard whittled down 3-of-3 triples to add nine points on the night.

Tre Mann dropped his sixth-consecutive double-digit effort with 13 points.

Next up, the Oklahoma City Thunder will face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.

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