Oklahoma City Thunder convincingly triumphed over the Denver Nuggets in the decisive game of the second round of the NBA championship playoffs, with the final score in the Game 7 being 125-93.
Denver started the game better and took an 8-4 lead. The Nuggets continued to increase the difference, reaching a double-digit lead with four and a half minutes left in the first quarter – 21-10.
From then on, Oklahoma’s game improved. The home team managed to stabilize their offense, tighten their defense, and made a 13-0 run at the transition between the first and second quarters, taking the lead – 29-26. That run for Denver’s first points in the second quarter was broken by an Aaron Gordon three-pointer.
Oklahoma took the lead by five points at one point, 37-32. But that surge did not last long, and Denver managed to stabilize and close the gap to one point with three minutes left in the first half, 42-41.
However, Oklahoma had a ready response. They made a 7-0 run and took the lead 49-41 with a minute and a half left in the first half. Jokić briefly interrupted Oklahoma’s run, and then another 7-0 run followed, and the home team reached their first double-digit lead a minute before the end of the first half – 56-43. In the end, Oklahoma won the second quarter 39-12 and went into halftime with a very promising +14 – 60-46.
Nothing changed in the introductory phase of the third quarter. After just two minutes, Oklahoma scored nine consecutive points and reached a huge +23 – 69-46.
Throughout the entire third quarter, the home team did not allow Denver to cut the deficit below 20 points. Even when they missed a shot, the home team was usually on the offensive rebound, of which there were five in the third quarter alone. Another big problem for Denver was turnovers (four in the third quarter alone, while Oklahoma had one, and the overall ratio was even more pronounced – 23-8 for Denver).
Thus, Oklahoma finished the third quarter with a 97-72 lead, and an almost impossible mission awaited Denver in the last 12 minutes. And the start of the fourth was identical to the second and third, where Denver once again started from a deficit. Oklahoma started with a 7-0 run and took a 104-72 lead. At that point, it was definitely clear who would win, and the biggest lead Oklahoma had was a 43-point difference – 125-82.
In the winning team, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game with 35 points. Williams scored 24 with seven assists, and Holmgren recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. On the other side, Nikola Jokić recorded 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Brown scored 19, and Jamal Murray 13.
Oklahoma qualified for the conference finals for the first time since the 2015/16 season when they were led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Now, Minnesota awaits them in the battle for the grand final. The first game is played on Tuesday night to Wednesday in Oklahoma, where the second and potential seventh games will also be played.
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Source: SportKlub, Photo: Sporting News