Lightning Thieves

The Nuggets just stole game 1 vs the Thunder in OKC. The Nuggets were not supposed to win this game. No, seriously, they were not supposed to win this game. The Nuggets came off a war of a series vs the Clippers and flew out to OKC with one day of rest. Meanwhile, OKC had 9 days of rest after quickly disregarding the Grizzlies. And the Nuggets won?? They became the first team in NBA history to beat a 65+ win team in game 1 with a rest disadvantage. It just goes to show you how unprecedented the result of yesterday's game was. Here's a list of things that the Nuggets overcame:

• Denver had 18 turnovers

• Alex Caruso for OKC was unbelievable as he had 20 points, 6 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks

• Caruso and Dort combined for 9/18 for three

• Michael Porter Jr had 2 points and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes of play

• Jokic had a flagrant foul with 6 minutes left in the game, which extended the lead for OKC from 104-95 to 108-95

• Murray struggled after the first quarter, scoring only 9 points in the final 3 quarters

  
  

The Nuggets led early in the game, but OKC quickly took control towards the end of the first quarter and never trailed again until Aaron Gordon hit the game winner.

The Nuggets, after a rough second quarter, seemed to stabilize a bit in the second half and kept within striking distance. They cut it to 5 at times, but then OKC would pull away, going up 10-12. It was like that for most of the 3rd Quarter and the beginning of the 4th Quarter, and then Joker took over. Joker had 18 points in the 4th Quarter. More than just his performance on the court, his leadership is what has been extraordinary. After the departure of Malone, Jokic has made it his responsibility to help out Adelman. Once again, we saw him being demonstrative during a timeout after OKC extended its lead. What he is doing this year is reminiscent of what LeBron did in his prime. He's putting the team on his back. He finished the night with a dominant 42 22 6. The 5th ever occurrence in playoff history to put up a statline of 40+ 20+ and 5+.

I would be selling the team short if I stopped my praise at Joker, because though he was the driving force, it was still a team effort. Russell Westbrook once again was a steady presence on the bench, going 7/13 from the court with 18 points. With the Nuggets being at a disadvantage depth-wise vs the Thunder, he is going to have to have games like this consistently, and so far he has been delivering. Since he came back from Injury in game 5 vs the Clippers, he has scored 21, 14, 16, and 18 in the 4 games since on efficient shooting. He has been arguably the Nuggets' 3rd most consistent player after Jokic and Gordon. In this game in particular, Westbrook made the right play in the final moments. With the Nuggets down 1 after Chet missed both free throws, Westbrook had the ball with 6-7 seconds left. At times this season, Russ has made hard drives to the basket in crunch time and has blown the layup because of how fast he attacks the rim. At that moment, yesterday, when he had the ball, I'm sure many people were nervous that he was going to play hero and go for the game winner himself, attacking the rim, especially because he was back in OKC in the house that he built. Instead, he made the smart play of passing it to Gordon on the left wing, and BANG. Nuggets win 121-119!

And now, finally, the man of the week. The man who saved their season with a buzzer-beating dunk has the Nuggets in a solid position to pull off an upset. I'm of course speaking of Aaron Gordon. His game winner yesterday is just a product of how much he has improved from last year to this year. Nick Wright on his What's Wright Podcast gave a mind-blowing stat. Aaron Gordon, last year, was 29% from three and 65% from the free throw line. This year, those numbers went up to 45 and 81, respectively. He has become a very reliable shooter. That is an aspect that the Nuggets didn't even have when they won the Championship in '23. His improvement from last year to this year has paid dividends these playoffs, and you could argue that he has been the second-best player for the Nuggets.

Game 2 all of a sudden becomes a must-win for OKC. They can't afford to go down 0-2 losing both at home, so I expect them to come out with desperation and look to blow the doors off the Nuggets tomorrow night. As for Denver, get greedy. Don't be satisfied with stealing one game. You have a very talented but very young team, a bit discombobulated after literally stealing a game in their house. Will the Thunder bounce back, or will their inexperience/youth let game 1 get the best of them for the remainder of this series?

I just love the NBA playoffs!

Nick Wright Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fCrrBS1NMk&ab_channel=What%27sWright%3FWithNickWright