After letting up home-court advantage during the series opener, the Oklahoma City Thunder came out swinging in their follow-up Game 2, breezing right by the Denver Nuggets in historic fashion and, ultimately, tying this Western Conference Semifinals up at 1-1.
Friday night, this second-round showdown will find itself migrating to the Mile High City, where OKC will look to steal one (or two) on the road to take back the upper hand.
In order for them to accomplish this goal, they'll have to bring their A-game to a packed Ball Arena, and, in specific, will need a few players to shine bright during this pivotal Game 3 matchup.
Isaiah Hartenstein
After putting up a historic 42 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal stat line in Game 1's shocking upset win, Nikola Jokic came back down to earth on Wednesday with a rather regular (at least, for him) 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists performance.
The biggest reason for such a drastic drop-off in production was Oklahoma City's switch in its defensive approach to the superstar, with the most notable being their decision to swap Chet Holmgren out as his direct assignment and replace him with Isaiah Hartenstein.
Said shakeup resulted in the big man wrapping up the night with a putrid 37.5 percent conversion rate and a -36 plus-minus rating.
Now, while he clearly had help in containing Jokic -- specifically from Jaylin Williams, who was an absolute gem of a difference-maker when thrust in as a replacement option --, ultimately, it was Hartenstein who served as the primary point of defense during the contest.
In Game 3, he needs to bring the same level of intensity and hustle he did in Game 2, and arguably even more when considering they'll be on Denver's turf and, in turn, could come in with added confidence.
Aaron Wiggins
Perhaps the biggest realization made during Wednesday night's blowout victory was that the Thunder have an obscene advantage over the Nuggets in the depth department.
Coming into the series, this was considered by some to be a serious problem for Denver, but Game 2 was when this discrepancy between the two ball clubs became painfully evident.
In Game 3, Oklahoma City should try to lean into this particular edge, both to give their core contributors help as well as to force Denver to try (and presumably fail) and match them while their stars are catching a breather on the sidelines.
Leading the charge all year for OKC's second unit has been Aaron Wiggins, who is coming off a career-best regular season of 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 48.8 percent shooting from the floor and 38.3 percent shooting from deep and has only seen this type of production transition right on into the playoffs.
Last game, in particular, he served as his regular spark-plug self by dropping 10 points, 5 rebounds, and a steal while shooting 50.0 percent both from the field and from beyond the arc.
Friday night, the Thunder will need their energizer bunny's momentum to continue on.
Jalen Williams
In Game 1's loss, Jalen Williams found himself putting on a highly inefficient offensive performance, scoring 16 points on 25.0 percent shooting from the floor and 22.2 percent shooting from distance.
Because of this, old concerns about whether he was capable of serving as the number two option next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on a title-contending team began to pop back up among fans and critics alike.
Game 2's win, however, saw a wildly different version of the All-Star, as he came out of the gates with an aggressive mindset by scoring four of the club's first 13 points and wrapping up the night with 17 on 54.5 percent shooting from the field.
Though some may view this as Williams officially exorcising his previously established second-round demons, others are still waiting to see him produce at this kind of rate on a consistent basis.
Game 3 could prove to be the ultimate test for the 24-year-old and, should he have a repeat of Wednesday night, there's a good chance the Thunder will be heading into the weekend up 2-1 in this semifinal series.