Thunder from Oklahoma stuns Denver and reaches Conference final!

The long and grueling season is over for the Denver Nuggets. As Americans like to jokingly say when a team gets knocked out of the playoffs – their opponent "sent them to Cancun for vacation." That’s exactly what Oklahoma did to Denver, outplaying them with much better energy and a much more aggressive, physical game.

Fifty-five years ago at Madison Square Garden, the captain of the New York Knicks stepped onto the court in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, even though it was considered impossible for him to play due to a torn thigh muscle. With a little injection and a lot of determination, Willis Reed appeared on the court, stripped off his warmups, and hit his first two shots of the game, pushing his team toward victory and the title. Over time, he became a symbol of players who play through injury — and tonight, the spirit of Willis Reed entered Aaron Gordon.

The Denver Nuggets' power forward suffered a hamstring injury in his left leg that would normally require at least a month of rest. However, Gordon wanted to play. After warming up and confirming he could go, he entered the game with tremendous energy, dominated on the boards, and even scored an and-one. He was the true spark for Denver with that kind of effort under his circumstances.

From the start, everyone on the visiting team clicked. Christian Braun was aggressive and relaxed from the very first play, making him the leading scorer after the first quarter. Nikola Jokic played his game — constantly calling for the ball, attacking from the paint, facilitating for teammates, and doing things his way. Jamal Murray’s impact was missing, but even without him, the Nuggets quickly built a double-digit lead.

As was the case for most of the series, Oklahoma’s bench brought more energy, and Denver stalled. Their zone defense broke down, the offense stopped functioning properly, and the Thunder cut the lead to five by the start of the second quarter, where they quickly took the lead. Oklahoma simply carried their strong energy into the second period, while Denver’s decline continued, especially considering that Nikola Jokic was sitting on the bench at that point.

The Joker rested for just a minute and a half before having to return to stop a 13–0 run — which Aaron Gordon did with a three-pointer. Denver’s bench gave no results. Westbrook was out of control, Watson and Strawther had no impact, and coach David Adelman had to quickly bring back all the starters and hope for the best. Gordon continued to fight heroically on both ends, while Jokic took a serious beating in the paint from every Thunder player. It wasn’t until Alex Caruso knocked him to the floor that the referees reacted, as they had been allowing very physical play — at least on the home team’s side.

Alex Caruso was the primary defender on Jokic and played him very physically, constantly walking the line of fouls that weren’t being called. He effectively denied entry passes to Jokic, and with the Nuggets’ star unable to score from the paint, their offense collapsed. Murray still hadn’t woken up, and the rest of the team was completely ineffective — something Oklahoma took full advantage of. Jalen Williams played fantastically and dominated Denver in the final minutes of the second quarter. By halftime, the Thunder were up by a massive 14 points, a serious issue for the Nuggets, no matter how experienced or resilient they might be.

Jokic had 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists, and alongside Braun (12 points) and Gordon (8 points, 8 rebounds), no one else contributed anything meaningful for Denver. Murray shot 2-for-7, and Westbrook had a -23 plus-minus (!), with Peyton Watson close behind at -21 — showing just how poorly the bench played and the state the Nuggets were in at halftime.

Mark Daigneault stuck with his winning formula in the second half. He went with a smaller lineup, left Hartenstein on the bench, and kept Caruso on Jokic. Oklahoma opened the third quarter with a 9–0 run, going up by 23 points, and at that point, it was clear Denver would need a miracle just to get back to even — let alone think about winning.

Every time the visitors showed some life, the home team had a ready answer. To make matters worse, Cason Wallace posterized Nikola Jokic with a fantastic dunk. Interestingly, Jokic played the entire third quarter but scored only three points, and by the end of the third, the Thunder were up by 25.

The Nuggets basically gave up at the start of the fourth quarter, while Oklahoma kept pushing. They played with the same energy from the moment they flipped the switch and wanted to showcase their dominance even when the game was clearly over. Denver had nothing left in the tank, and David Adelman waived the white flag with nine and a half minutes remaining, emptying the bench and letting the game finish out as a formality.

Christian Braun was Denver’s second-leading scorer after Jokic with 19 points, Jamal Murray had 13 (6/16 FG), Aaron Gordon finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds, and Michael Porter Jr. had 6 points (3/8 FG). Russell Westbrook scored 6 points (2/7 FG) and had the worst +/- on the team with -34.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game with 35 points, Jalen Williams had 24, Chet Holmgren contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds, and the game’s hero, Alex Caruso, added 11 points, three assists, three steals, and a remarkable +40 in the +/- category.

NBA, Playoffs, Western Conference semifinal

Thunder - Nuggets 125 - 93