OKLAHOMA CITY — Attempting a 3-pointer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s shot ricocheted off the rim and briefly landed on the top of the basket before unceremoniously trickling down.
It was that type of night for the All-NBA guard as the Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a 128-95 blowout loss to the reigning NBA champions Denver Nuggets.
“Credit them, it’s impressive how sharp — not even this game, the other two games watching them — how sharp they’ve been this early in the season coming off of a championship and a late run,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about the Nuggets. “It’s got to be hard to gear it back up the way they are. They picked up right where they left off.”
After two impressive road wins to start their season, the Nuggets quickly reminded the Thunder that they’re still a ways away from being considered in the same tier as them — which is perfectly fine for one of the youngest teams in the league despite a hot 2-0 start.
After a back-and-forth opening minutes, the Nuggets created distance on the scoreboard against OKC as they led 34-23 following the first quarter. The deficit only grew as Denver entered halftime with a 69-51 lead.
In the third quarter, the Thunder uncharacteristically couldn’t exit the break playing better. Instead, the Nuggets added to their lead and entered the final frame with a 22-point lead.
The Thunder lost this game in the shooting department. OKC shot an ugly 41% from the field and 6-of-32 (18.8%) from 3. Meanwhile, the Nuggets generated easy shot after easy shot as they went an impressive 60.2% from the field and 11-of-27 (40.7%) from 3.
Struggling against Denver’s size, the Thunder were outrebounded by a 48-29 margin. OKC was also outscored in the paint, 72-58.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 28 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. The two-time MVP — like he usually does — got whatever he wanted against OKC and played within the flow of Denver’s offense.
Jokic’s supporting cast in Michael Porter Jr. — who had 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting — and Jamal Murray — who had 19 points and eight assists — also helped the Nuggets get the easy blowout win.
“What made them hard to attack tonight is they kinda moved it first,” Daigneault said about the Nuggets’ offensive outing. “Jokic was getting it in kinda the middle of the possession and it made it a lot harder for us to kinda recognize rather than if they came down and just jam the ball to him.”
For the Thunder, this is an easy game to burn the tapes of. The good news is that this only counts for one of 82 games. Heading into the season, most would’ve taken a 2-1 start by OKC looking at the schedule.
“It’s good to get these early in the year,” Jalen Williams said about the loss. “Especially (since) they just won a championship. To kinda match up against them early and figure out where we are is kinda like a blessing in disguise.”
The Thunder will get a chance to quickly wash away the taste of this blowout loss when they welcome in the Detroit Pistons for the second night of this home back-to-back on Monday.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.