OKLAHOMA CITY — sank the go-ahead jumper. Paul Millsap and Will Barton hit the clutch free throws. But Mason Plumlee swatted the game-saving block.
Plumlee’s denial of Jerami Grant at the rim with 6.7 seconds left in overtime preserved the Nuggets’ one-point lead, which they carried to a 126-125 overtime victory Friday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was the fourth thriller in as many games between these two division rivals — and a win Denver desperately needed to stay in the Western Conference playoff race.
“Play of the game in my opinion,” coach Michael Malone said.
The Nuggets (41-35) — who played without second-leading scorer for the seventh consecutive game — moved into a tie with the ninth-place Clippers (41-35), who lost at Portland Friday. Both teams two games behind eighth-place New Orleans (43-33), which fell at Cleveland, and seventh-place Utah (43-3), which beat Memphis.
Both teams stayed within one possession until the final minute of the extra frame, with Murray giving Denver a 122-121 lead in a pull-up jumper with 1:37 to play. Following two Nuggets defensive stops — Russell Westbrook lost the ball out of bounds with 44.6 seconds left and then missed a layup with 22.6 seconds remaining — the Thunder (44-33) secured a jump ball after tying Murray up with 12.9 seconds to go. But when Paul George dished from the top of the key to a streaking Grant near the basket, Plumlee quickly closed the gap and went straight up with his right arm. The ball eventually landed in Millsap’s hands, and he and Barton went 4-of-4 from the line to finish off the victory.
“It was unbelievable,” Millsap said of Plumlee’s block. “I kind of stopped and the ball just fell right in my hands. Then I just had to refocus, because I had to go knock some free throws down. I was in awe at first, and then I woke up.”
Plumlee’s massive defensive play capped off a wild back-and-forth affair, one in which Denver surrendered a 15-point second-half lead — a common theme throughout this two-week road trip that ends at 3-4 — but then rallied from six points down with 2:22 left in regulation to force overtime. Barton tied the score at 114 when he drove, spun and finished inside with nine seconds to play, before a Westbrook 3-pointer clanged off the rim just before the buzzer.
The Thunder began the fourth quarter on a 23-7 run, with a 3-pointer by Grant giving the Thunder a 99-97 lead with 6:16 to play before Alex Abrinas followed with his own long ball. That lead held until the final minute of regulation, when Millsap finished off the glass to cut the advantage to 110-108, then tied the game with two free throws with 49.2 seconds to play.
Steven Adams answered with one foul shot, before Westbrook threw down a thunderous dunk off an offensive rebound to increase that lead to 112-110 with 25.4 seconds left. Millsap, who finished with a season-high 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting and added nine rebounds, answered with a layup, before Paul George went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line and gave Barton a chance to tie.
“The way we did it was very special, because we’ve been struggling on this road trip with closing games out,” Millsap said. “(Those were) so many things that we’ve been missing these past few games, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Nuggets built their third-quarter lead behind the duo of Millsap and , who totaled 23 points,16 rebounds and six assists. They scored Denver’s first 13 points after halftime and 19 of its 30 in the frame — including a nifty connection in which Jokic got Adams in the air on a pump-fake, drew the defense while driving, then dropped a bounce pass to Millsap for the easy dunk to put Denver up 81-66 with 5:41 left in the period.
Westbrook just missed his 24th triple-double of the season with 33 points, nine rebounds and 13 assists. Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points and added nine rebounds against his former team, but did not play the fourth quarter. Oklahoma City went 20-of-44 from 3-point distance but just 15-of-27 from the free-throw line.
As Plumlee left his feet to contest Grant’s shot at the rim, Malone’s brain flashed back to the last time the Nuggets visited Oklahoma City in December. In another tightly contested game, Westbrook drove hard to the basket in the final seconds and drew a foul on rookie Torrey Craig, then sealed a Thunder win at the foul line.
But Plumlee knew he could go straight up and avoid making contact. Murray watched his teammate get way higher in the air than Grant. And the ball found Millsap’s grasp.
Plumlee sealed the Nuggets’ desperately-needed victory. And as he was asked to recount the moment in the Nuggets’ locker room, Malone joined the crowd of reporters and smiled.
“I’m just proud of that guy, man,” Malone said of Plumlee as he walked out of the room.
