Game Grades: SGA leads OKC Thunder to dominant road victory over Nuggets
By Ivan White
The Oklahoma City Thunder put on a dominant showing in Denver.
The Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 119-93 to snap the Nuggets’ six-game winning streak and move ahead of them in the Western Conference standings. With the win, the Thunder move their post-Christmas winning streak to three.
The OKC Thunder used a dominant third quarter to take over the second seed in the Western Conference.
In the first half, the Thunder got off to a good start and took a six-point lead into the halftime break. To begin the third quarter, the Nuggets made a push to get back into the game and quickly moved their deficit to only two points.
Then, the Thunder took control.
Behind an absurd performance by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the third quarter, the Thunder went on a huge run to take their lead into the high teens and eventually past the 20-point mark. Two jumpers from Isaiah Joe pushed the Thunder’s lead to 20 as the third quarter wound down.
Gilgeous-Alexander poked the ball out of Julian Strawther’s hands right into Cason Wallace’s, who found the superstar for an easy slam late in the third. That opened the lead up to 22 and was symbolic of how the Thunder’s night went overall.
Oklahoma City will try to keep its momentum into 2024 with a New Year’s Eve matchup against the Brooklyn Nets.