Thunder roared back from a deficit, and shocked Denver in OT, proving resilience even without their MVP on the court.
The Oklahoma City Thunder got the MVP back from injury tonight, and the timing couldn’t have been better with Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in town. But OKC didn’t exactly come out firing.
The Thunder struggled early, and a 15-0 Denver run in the first quarter helped the Nuggets build a lead that ballooned to 16 points. From there, Oklahoma City steadily chipped away. The Thunder was plus-5 in the second quarter, plus-3 in the third, and plus-6 in the fourth, doing enough to not only grab the lead briefly late, but ultimately tie the game and force overtime.
Alex Caruso had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but his look didn’t fall, sending it to the extra five minutes.
That’s when things got really interesting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was back for his first game after the injury and was on a soft minutes restriction, meaning there wasn’t a strict cap, but the Thunder was going to be cautious. When overtime started, Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, and he never checked back in. He finished regulation at 34 minutes, and OKC chose to play it safe, which you almost never see in a spot like this, especially against a Denver team that’s right there with OKC as a top-tier contender.
And the wild part: the Thunder still took control. Oklahoma City won overtime 20-14, knocked down two of its three threes, and lived at the line. OKC went 10-for-10 on free throws in the extra period as the Nuggets got more physical late, and the Thunder made them pay. Overall, OKC executed, missed only three shots in overtime, and pulled out a gutty win.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points, nine rebounds and four stocks. Chet Holmgren chipped in 15 points and an outstanding 21 rebounds, while five other players scored nine or more points.
Next up, the Thunder heads to Dallas to face the Mavericks on Sunday. Another big chance to stack momentum.