Suddenly riding a three-game winning streak, the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to defeat the short-handed Denver Nuggets, 108-94, in a rare blowout win for the team.
The Thunder were able to balloon their lead in the third quarter by winning the period by 14 points. The 88-66 lead heading into the fourth quarter essentially labeled the final 12 minutes as garbage time. Sure, the Nuggets made a run in the fourth quarter as its all-bench lineup cut it to single digits, but the game never really felt like it was under threat.
The 30th-ranked offensive-rated team was able to get anything they wanted on offense as drives to the rim went seamlessly. The best thing about this win is the fact that it was led by the young guys in Shai Gilgeous-Alexnader, Josh Giddey and Darius Bazley.
Things felt like the roles for both teams were in reverse as the well-rested Nuggets looked sluggish on both ends of the floor while the Thunder, who are in the middle of four games in six nights stretch, played very energetically.
This was just a very nice start of the Thunder’s back-to-back in a game that saw the offense humming along with no real high pressure minutes in the final quarter. Let’s take a look at player grades: