Three takeaways from OKC’s 113-101 win over Denver

The Thunder beat the Nuggets on Friday night behind Chris Paul’s 29 points. Oklahoma City has now won 11 of their last 14 games.

The Oklahoma City Thunder returned to play after the All-Star break with a statement win on Friday night, defeating the Denver Nuggets 113-101 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Here are three takeaways from that game:

Balanced scoring attack > dominant player 

Denver’s Nikola Jokic was the game’s high scorer with 32 points. While Jamal Murray also chipped in 21, it wasn’t enough to overcome a balanced scoring effort from Oklahoma City.

Seven of the nine players that saw action for the Thunder were in double-digits, and the only one not to score at all was Terrance Ferguson, who played 21 minutes and took only one shot from the floor.

Steven Adams (19), Danilo Gallinari (15), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11), Dennis Schroder (11), Lu Dort (11), and Nerlens Noel (10) all contributed double figures while Abdel Nader scored seven in 16 minutes of play.

 

Chris Paul was a scorer, not just a facilitator

At times during the season, Chris Paul has been fine to take a back seat to high-scoring guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroder. Billy Donovan even talked about OKC’s success being predicated on the unselfishness of the guards during his post-game press conference.

But on Friday, Paul was the primary scorer for the Thunder, scoring a team-high 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field. Paul also hit on four of his six 3-point attempts.

Both teams struggled from 3-point range

While Paul hit on four 3-pointers, he was by far the best 3-point shooter on Friday night.

As a team, OKC struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 34.6% (9-of-26). Danilo Gallinari, in particular, had an off-shooting night from range, making just 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.

As bad as Oklahoma City was, the Nuggets were even worse. Denver shot a paltry 22.2% from three, making just six of their 27 attempts. Will Barton was the Nuggets best weapon from beyond the arc, as it was, making 2-of-5 from 3-point land.