OKC gives the Nuggets a taste of their own medicine (2-2)

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets on Sunday in a high-stakes game, tying the Western Conference semifinals series with a 92-87 victory in the fourth game. Despite their youth, the Oklahoma team outperformed the battle-hardened and defending champion Nuggets in crucial moments, avoiding being on the brink of elimination with a 3-1 deficit.

Key was the short break between games (just a day and a half): Nikola Jokic was completely exhausted.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was crucial in the final stretch, scoring nine of his 25 points in the last quarter to lead the comeback. The Thunder, who had fallen short in the two tightest games of the series and were up against a team accustomed to closing out games strongly — the Nuggets have won six of their last seven playoff series —, found the formula this time to rewrite the script. The next game will take place on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

After a demanding third game that went into overtime on Friday night, the early start of the fourth showdown — played on Mother's Day in the United States — resulted in a first half marked by low scoring: just 25 combined points in the first quarter and a 42-36 lead for the Thunder at halftime. Coach Mark Daigneault explained that, given the short recovery time, they opted to fully utilize the depth of the roster to keep the players fresh.

In the final quarter, with the score 73-66 in favor of the Nuggets after a basket by Aaron Gordon, the Oklahoma substitutes changed the course of the game. Cason Wallace made two threes and Aaron Wiggins added another in an 11-0 run that ultimately put the Thunder ahead. Wallace nailed the three-pointer that secured the definitive lead at 75-73. Denver's interim coach, David Adelman, acknowledged the influence of the opponent's bench: “I think the difference was their second unit. They sparked it with those threes, which was incredible in a game where the teams shot 21 of 86 from three-point range.”

The Nuggets missed a great opportunity to be one win away from the Conference Finals. Their errors in the final moments, including a five-second violation on an inbound play, allowed the Thunder to close out convincingly. In fact, Oklahoma outscored Denver 12-0 in clutch time, completely reversing the trend of previous games where the Nuggets had dominated 28-11 in those crucial moments.

The offensive level was poor from both teams. They only made 3 of 22 three-point attempts in the first half and finished with a 33.5% field goal percentage, the lowest combined figure in a playoff game since 2004, according to ESPN Research.

Gilgeous-Alexander highlighted the team's resilience: “We fought, stayed strong… and closed out the game.” Although they don't yet possess Denver's experience, Daigneault emphasized that the team is growing with each challenge: “Every time you get hit and you get up, you get stronger. That's what we're trying to convey. We lost a tough game in overtime, but today we rose up.”

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, OKC le da a los Nuggets a probar su propia medicina (2-2)