Thunder storms past Nuggets late for 3-2 series lead

OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 112-105 on Tuesday night to go up 3-2 in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Oklahoma City overcame a 44-point, 15-rebound night from Denver's Nikola Jokic. The Thunder can clinch the series on Thursday in Denver.

Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 23 field goals and bounced back from a slow start to lead six players in double figures.

"Throughout the game, it's full of swings — you make shots, you miss shots. We just trusted in our principles, and, two games in a row now, we've been able to pull out a W," Gilgeous-Alexander said.

"You're only as good as your weakest link, and all 10 of our guys are ready to go. All we care about is winning the game. We got one tonight, and we've got one more (to get)."

The loss leaves Denver facing a must-win Game 6 in Colorado on Thursday to avoid an early end to their postseason.

"What the great players do is they rise in the face of those challenges and adversities," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "And I just thought he (Gilgeous-Alexander) got more and more composed as the game went on. And, despite the fact that the pressure was mounting and it got hotter in there, he got cooler and just kind of settled into it, made the right plays and let the game tell him what to do."

Jokic made 17 of 25 shots. Denver's Jamal Murray scored 28 points, but he made just 10 of 27 shots. No other Denver player scored more than 13 points.

"This is a really disappointing loss," Denver interim coach David Adelman said. "The guys in there should be disappointed. It's a heavy loss, and we have to bounce back quickly to win Game 6 and give ourselves a chance to come back; have a game like this, but finish it."

Oklahoma City ran out to a 12-2 lead, and it looked like it might turn out to be a repeat of the Thunder's blowout victory in Game 2. Denver made one of its first nine shots, and that was a putback by Jokic.

The Nuggets rallied and led by 11 in the second quarter, but Oklahoma City closed strong and trailed 56-54 at halftime. Jokic had 19 points and nine rebounds before the break.

Murray scored 13 points in the third quarter, and Jokic added 12 to help the Nuggets take an 86-78 lead into the fourth. Still, there were missed opportunities.

"It felt like every time we had a chance to go back up 12, or get it back at 14, we wouldn't make the shot and they'd run out and make a basket or score in transition," Adelman said. "So, it compounded itself."

Oklahoma City's Lu Dort, who scored a total of three points in the first three quarters, hit a trio of 3-pointers in a two-minute span to cut Denver's lead to 92-90 midway through the fourth.

Jokic hit a deep fadeaway 3-pointer to tie the game at 103 before Oklahoma City closed it out. Jalen Williams' 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining gave the Thunder a 106-103 lead, and Gilgeous-Alexander's three with 48 seconds to go pushed Oklahoma City's lead to six.

"I thought we executed as well as we have in the playoffs, down the stretch in a close game," Daigneault said.

Over the past two games, Oklahoma City outscored Denver 63-37 in the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets used just eight players, with three playing more than 40 minutes. No Thunder player went 40 minutes, prompting a question to Denver interim coach David Adelman about whether his team ran out of gas.

"You could say it's fatigue. If it is fatigue, that's on me," Adelman said. "I'm deciding who's going to run it, who's going to be out there."

Jokic had struggled the previous three games, but he was excellent on Tuesday, adding five assists and just two turnovers. Jokic shot 17 of 25 from the field and 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.

"We had a great performance from Nikola, we just have to have a few other guys have a game," Adelman said.

Agencies