The Oklahoma City Thunder were stunned by the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. Oklahoma City was stunning in a Game 2 romp.
The Thunder’s 43-point rout Wednesday night evened the series, which shifts to Denver for the next two games, starting with Game 3 Friday night.
Oklahoma City needs to win one of those road games to take back home-court advantage, which shouldn’t be a tough task for a team that went 32-8 away from home during the regular season and won its first two on the road in the playoffs.
To get at least one win, the Thunder need to bring the same energy they had in Game 2 when they led by 24 after the first quarter, scored 87 points in the first half and were up by as much as 49.
“Winning by a hundred or winning by two, it’s still 1-1, and I think that’s very important,” Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Like I said, especially in the series, every game’s going to look different. People are going to make adjustments. It’s going to be a different crowd, a different feel. You’re going to start hot, you’re going to start cold, everything’s going to look different. It’s important to turn the page.”
The Thunder will likely stick with their game plan to contain Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. They were physical with the three-time MVP and frustrated him before he fouled out late in the third quarter. He finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and six turnovers after putting up 42 points and 22 rebounds in Denver’s Game 1 win.
Jokic gave credit to Oklahoma City, saying only one team played the game, while Aaron Gordon came to his teammate’s defense.
“They are fouling Joker first. You know Jok is reactionary and they do get the second guy a lot of the times,” Gordon said. “But they are fouling him throughout the game — point blank. Period. And it’s a thing you can’t call every foul because you would be calling a foul every single play. But they are fouling him. They are a handsy team.”
Jokic wasn’t the only one who struggled. The Nuggets shot just 37.9 percent from the field, committed 21 turnovers and were outrebounded 44-38 after winning that category by 20 on Monday night.
Denver will lean on its championship experience to respond as it has in the past. The Nuggets were routed in Game 3 of the first round but came back to beat the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 4; last year they were down 0-2 to Minnesota before reeling off three straight wins.
Interim coach David Adelman said the players owned their performance after watching the game film on Thursday.
“A lot of guys had thoughts on what they felt (Wednesday) night,” he said. “And that allows you to move on and do things better (Friday).”
There is also concern about Michael Porter Jr.’s health. Though he is not on the injury report for Game 3, Porter has been dealing with a left shoulder sprain suffered in the first round and has struggled with his shot at times. He was on the bench in crunch time during Game 1, and Russell Westbrook has seen his minutes increase.
