Well that could have been a much easier loss to swallow…
I’m not mad – I’m really not. In fact, I kinda expected something like this tonight. The Oklahoma City Thunder entered Denver playing their sixth straight game in a different time zone. It was their fourth game in the last six days. They were playing in a city that is literally a mile above sea level – tired legs was going to be an issue. But I didn’t expect it to be this bad.
That’s (^) what I wrote as the Thunder were down by double-digits to start the fourth quarter. Seeing how we lost on a buzzer-beating Gary Harris three, only moments after Paul George hit an incredibly difficult three to tie the game with 1.4 seconds left, it’s still a fitting way to begin this recap.
The Thunder defense was a travesty from the very beginning of the game, allowing the Nuggets to score 40 points in the first quarter alone. Nikola Jokic stretched Steven Adams out to the perimeter, which in turned opened up the paint for Denver to drive. And that’s exactly what a disengaged OKC perimeter-unit allowed to happen.
Denver hit 51.5% from the field and 39.5% from deep because many of their shots went uncontested. When Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Nikola Jokic combine to shoot 59.6%-54.5% splits, you’re just not going to beat a Nuggets team at home.
Yet because of a valiant fourth quarter attempt Oklahoma City was in that very position. The second-unit cut what was a 15-point deficit to single-digits before Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams re-entered the game. The starters somewhat stepped up their defensive pressure and the OKC offense slowly caught up, culminating in the aformentioned George three that tied the game with only seconds to spare.
https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/959305178498285569
Sigh. I kinda wish they would have just folded in the towel early, both so I could have continued my “blowout” narrative and finished this recap much earlier, AND so they could have a little more energy for tomorrow’s game against the Pelicans. At the same time, I’m proud of the second-unit for coming out strong in the fourth and I’m proud that the starters actually worked to reward their performance. It’s a shame things couldn’t go the Thunder’s way.
Now on the the player grades.