OKC Thunder grind out impressive victory against the Nuggets: player grades
By Sinjin Snope
The OKC Thunder come out of the All-Star break with an impressive win over Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets ending a seven-game losing streak to Denver
All-Star breaks always seem to last just too long if you are a fan of the NBA. The wait for OKC Thunder fans finally came to an end tonight as their Thunder hosted the very formidable Denver Nuggets inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. After knocking off some rust, the Thunder came out on top in the match-up of likely playoff teams.
The first quarter was some of the sloppiest, slowest basketball we have seen in a long time. However, this was to be expected from both teams coming off the long layoff. OKC got it going late in the period to end it up by 10 points on the visiting Nuggets.
Denver caught fire in the second and the game started to wake up as a whole after the sluggish opening. Nikola Jokic proved to be as unstoppable as ever as the Nuggets climbed back and tied the score as the game entered the half time period.
73. 113. 149. Final. 101
As the OKC Thunder have all year, they responded in the second half with a great performance from their three guards. Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder, and SGA all had their moments starting in the third period as the Thunder gained a one-point advantage going into the final frame.
The fourth quarter was all Oklahoma City as the Thunder offense finally hit the ground running. SGA and Chris Paul slammed the door shut on the Nuggets as OKC ends up cruising to a 113-101 victory over the second best team in the Western Conference.
Great win to start the home stretch of the regular season. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year has in store for the OKC Thunder. On to player grades.