OKLAHOMA CITY — This time, the animosity between the Nuggets and Thunder peaked when a pregame graphic was shown on the jumbotron.
NBA statistical leaderboards were flashing across the screen one by one at Paycom Center. When the “rebounding” category took its turn, Nikola Jokic’s head shot appeared next to the list of 10 names. Oklahoma City didn’t take kindly to the sight of it. Jokic’s league-best 12.5 boards per game were greeted with a chorus of boos.
In the flesh, Jokic wasn’t greeted with the same contempt. Everybody was on their best behavior Monday night, with the possible exception of one crucial play, and the clutch shot-making of Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander more than sufficed as great theater. They combined for 15 points in the last 72 seconds of a 129-126 thriller. It ended with Gilgeous-Alexander burying a step-back, go-ahead 3-pointer over Denver’s Spencer Jones with 2.7 seconds to go.
“I have answers to the test,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked if he knew he would take that shot, “but I’ve gotta see the questions first.”
“He’s the reigning MVP,” Aaron Gordon said. “Sometimes you’ve just gotta shake the man’s hand.”
The Nuggets (39-26) fell to sixth place in the West with their third loss in as many tries against the team that eliminated them last season.
They might’ve been a little too well-behaved on the defensive end. Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 35 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists. He tied Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record with his 126th consecutive 20-point game — a streak no other player has come within 35 games of equaling. Not even a seven-point Nuggets rally in the last two minutes was enough to erase a shaky performance at stopping the ball. Gilgeous-Alexander also hit a step-back three over Christian Braun that should’ve been the dagger with 14 seconds left, giving OKC a 126-122 lead.
“I think he busted my (expletive) tonight,” Braun said. “And it is kind of what it is. I’ve played him enough that I know I’ve had good games against him. I think that last game, I knew I played well and got a block in a big moment. Tonight, he made the shot in a big moment. He made a couple of them. So I know I’m gonna play him again. I’m gonna play him in the playoffs. I’m very confident. He got the better of me this matchup.”
Jokic went for 32 points, 14 boards and 13 assists. Aaron Gordon started hot, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the first seven minutes as Nuggets coach David Adelman navigated his minutes restriction. The power forward played 28, an uptick from 21 in his return from a hamstring strain last Friday. He said after the game that he already feels ready to return to a regular workload, “but it’s on the coaches and training staff now.” He’s unsure of his status for back-to-backs.
Tim Hardaway Jr. eventually carried the scoring torch for Denver’s role players, amassing 28 points on an 8-for-12 night beyond the arc. He was locked in a duel of sharpshooting role players against Jaylin Williams, whose 7-for-11 game buoyed Oklahoma City.
The lone excessive encounter of the game brought back sour memories — and gave the Nuggets new life just as they were running out. Lu Dort’s arm caught Jokic in the head as he tried to fight over a screen by the MVP center, causing Jokic to hit the deck with 1:12 left. Denver was trailing 123-116. It was ruled a flagrant foul after a review.
Jokic didn’t lose his cool this time. After the game, he said he didn’t feel like Dort crossed a line, unlike on Feb. 27. He was content to collect a 4-point possession, splitting a pair of free throws then potting a corner 3-pointer. “Obviously, that play helped us stay in the game. … His arm flailed and happened to catch him in the face,” Adelman said. “Thatap all I’ll say about it.”
The Nuggets pulled off an even more dramatic 4-point play to tie it with eight seconds left when Jokic drained a 3-pointer off the catch and Jamal Murray was simultaneously fouled while setting a pin-down to free up Jokic. Williams was trying to blow up the screen and contest Jokic’s shot, even though all OKC needed to do was not foul on the play to protect the lead. Murray converted at the line, setting up SGA’s heroics.
“I was thinking in my head, ‘thank the lord.’ I was just so happy that (Gilgeous-Alexander) did that,” Williams said, “because I did probably the dumbest play of my career. … Just a dumb-(expletive) play.”
In the prelude to this showdown, Jokic confronted Dort after being tripped away from the ball — “an unnecessary move, and a necessary reaction,” as he described it. Dort was ejected, but the Nuggets continued to seethe in the aftermath of the incident, in part because they felt Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was dismissive of the play.
“Lu acknowledged that the play was unnecessary. I don’t think my comments, if I’m being honest, helped after the game,” Daigneault admitted Monday night. “I thought the timing of them was insensitive. I was in the mode of protecting my team moving forward.”
Bygones were bygones, for now. But the rematch lived up to the hype in every way, aside from the lack of extracurricular activity. Oklahoma City was fending without centers Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren, but Williams — a third-string big good enough to start on at least a handful of teams — killed Denver with his spacing. He knocked down seven 3s in a 29-point performance after having been the first to defend Dort’s honor last week.
When he needed a breather, the Thunder went small with Dort and Kenrich Williams acting as a frontcourt. Adelman tried a bench unit featuring Gordon and Jonas Valanciunas in the first half, but they failed to punish Oklahoma City’s lack of size during a minus-10 stretch without Jokic.
“You put your guys in coverage, a center like JV, and then you want the ball to find the lesser of the evils,” Adelman said. “Those guys made some shots. But I didn’t think that’s what hurt us. It’s just their runouts, their pace, compared to ours. I think we frustrated with the fact that we missed some easy shots around the rim, and you can’t do that. You’ve gotta continue to play the game.”
Adelman went off-script to start the fourth quarter, playing Jokic against the small lineup in minutes he would usually rest. Daigneault quickly responded by getting Williams back on the floor. Jokic proceeded to take a 94-second break. Then it was time to ride him to the finish line.
Cam Johnson went to the locker room with back spasms early in the third quarter but was able to return early in the fourth. He appeared to be in pain, but he managed to bury a timely corner 3-pointer for his first and only made field goal of the night. It gave the Nuggets a momentary 102-98 lead and helped them survive the mini-stint without Jokic.
“It was unfortunate with Cam. Had the back spasms, so Tim had to play longer runs, longer stints, which changed the rotation the second half,” Adelman said. “But we got through it and gave ourselves a chance to win the game.”
The defending champions were relentless. They flexed their depth. Ajay Mitchell, an afterthought on last year’s season and a developmental success story this season, scored the next four points to tie it. He amassed 24 on the night in his return from a 20-game absence. Jared McCain, a trade deadline steal from the tax-ducking 76ers, knocked down two 3s in the last four minutes. The Nuggets’ dribble containment against Gilgeous-Alexander and other ball-handlers failed them, forcing them to help off shooters.
Adelman was trying to double-team Gilgeous-Alexander from the middle of the floor on the final possession, but when the ball went to him, Jones gambled too much by trying to jump into the passing lane, preventing the young wing from having the leverage to steer Gilgeous-Alexander into the teeth of Denver’s defense. On a night the slippery guard had already made history, he danced in space and made a more enduring memory for himself.
The Nuggets were out of timeouts after Adelman lost his challenge earlier in the fourth quarter trying to overturn a shooting foul committed by Braun. With a defense-first lineup stuck on the floor and no opportunity to advance the ball, the Nuggets had no choice but to settle for a 60-foot prayer by Gordon at the buzzer.
“They said the contact after the ball was hit, I guess, was more than marginal. I was under the impression that if the ball was touched first, pretty much everything is just what it is. … That’s why we challenged it,” Adelman said. “Because the amount of times I’ve seen the ball get hit and then directly following that, there’s all kinds of contact. But they always tell you, ‘Well, they hit the ball first, the deflection happened first.'”
