SGA falls flat in OKC Thunder home opening loss

After a couple of exciting wins to start the season, the OKC Thunder did not have enough to compete against the defending champions.

The Thunder lost their home opener to the Denver Nuggets 128-95. The Nuggets held Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to seven points, and the Thunder could not overcome his rough afternoon.

The Nuggets blew out the OKC Thunder in their home opener.

Early in the third quarter, the OKC Thunder looked to get back in the game, but a Jamal Murray three, followed by a ridiculous sequence by Aaron Gordon, stifled that effort. Gordon blocked Jalen Williams’ dunk attempt, then made a tough finish in traffic on the other side to take the lead back to 18.

From there, Denver opened its lead up to 22 going to the fourth quarter and never looked back. Although the game did not have an exciting finish, it started with a bang.

The opening minutes featured a battle between Jokic and Holmgren. The Thunder rookie scored the team’s first seven points but struggled with Jokic’s size defensively and on the glass.

Chet Holmgren had a solid outing against the two-time MVP, finishing with a career high19 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

Nikola Jokic looked like the MVP that he is, going for 22 points in the first half alone and ending with 28, along with 14 rebounds and five assists.

After some hot starts in the first two games, Gilgeous-Alexander had a rough first quarter that would be indicative of his full outing against the Nuggets. Gilgeous-Alexander finished the first with one point on 0-of-8 shooting and picked up two fouls in the first five minutes.

After outside shooting was a bright spot in the Thunder’s opening road trip, their efficiency dropped against the Nuggets. In the first half, the Thunder shot 2-of-16 from beyond the arc on their way to an 18-point halftime deficit.

Oklahoma City made no improvement from 3-point range in the second half and shot only 18.8% for the game. The starting lineup finished just 3-of-16 from outside.

Michael Porter Jr. was another bright spot for Denver as he was the team’s second-leading scorer with 20. Murray also had a solid game in his matchup with Gilgeous-Alexander, as he had 19 points and eight assists.

The Nuggets pummeled the Thunder in the rebounding battle, grabbing 19 more boards. As the Thunder get another big team in their next game, performing better on the glass is imperative.

The OKC Thunder gets the Detroit Pistons at home Monday night in their first back-to-back of the season.