It’s been more difficult than expected, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are a win away from surviving the Denver Nuggets.
The owners of the top record in the NBA this season erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 5 to win 112-105 and take a 3-2 lead in their second-round series. Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Denver.
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If there was a performance that won the game for OKC, it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 31 points on 12-of-23 shooting with 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
If it was a stretch that won it, look no further than Lu Dort’s three straight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Those triples took advantage of a seven-minute stretch without a field goal for the Nuggets, who led by as much as 12 points in the third quarter and by eight entering the fourth quarter.
Before that, the Thunder had looked stuck in quicksand against a less talented but more energetic opponent, led by a 44-point, 15-rebound night from Nikola Jokić. Now, they get a chance to end this series on the road, with a Western Conference finals against the winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Golden State Warriors series at stake.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s signature playoff moment
After Dort got the Thunder back in the game, it was on Gilgeous-Alexander to keep them there. OKC took its first lead since the first quarter with 3:33 remaining in the game, on a layup from their presumptive MVP.
The Nuggets went on to tie the game on three straight possessions, with Gilgeous-Alexander responding every time. A Jokić layup led to a Gilgeous-Alexander-to-Isaiah Hartenstein alley-oop. A Jokić bank shot led to a Gilgeous-Alexander jumper. A preposterous Jokić 3-pointer led to a Jalen Williams 3-pointer, and then a Gilgeous-Alexander 3-pointer to put OKC up for good.
It was one of the best stretches of Gilgeous-Alexander’s career, and saw the Paycom Center crowd frequently chanting “M-V-P.”
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Nikola Jokić was elite. The rest of the Nuggets, however …
If there was a game that condensed all the concerns about the Nuggets into a stretch of 48 minutes, it was this one.
The Nuggets got an all-time great performance from their all-time great player. They got a 28-point night from Jamal Murray, albeit an inefficient one with 10-of-27 shooting and four turnovers. They got very little else.
Michael Porter Jr. was 1 of 7 for two points. Christian Braun was 3 of 12 for eight points. Russell Westbrook was 1 of 7 for four points. As a whole, the non-Jokić and Murray Nuggets shot 13 of 45. Jokić scored 44 points, with two turnovers, and lost.
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It was especially bad in Denver’s fourth-quarter collapse, in which the non-Jokić players missed their first 13 shots before a garbage-time layup by Murray. They shot 1-of-15 overall, in a pivotal Game 5 and one of the greatest offensive players ever calling the shots.
We could call that an unfathomable loss, but Denver can clearly fathom it quite well given it was that kind of stuff which cost head coach Michael Malone his job. The Nuggets entered this postseason with relatively low expectations under interim head coach David Adelman, and now they need two straight wins against a 68-14 team to keep their improbable run going.
Laine Lupo
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