The Oklahoma City Thunder were on the verge of snapping their two-game losing streak. With a lead as large as 15 points, the Thunder needed to cruise through the final 12 minutes against a tired and injury-depleted Denver Nuggets squad.
Instead, the Nuggets forced overtime and eventually won, 131-126. Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic carried the Nuggets to the win with 39 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
With a Nuggets team on the second night of a back-to-back and only having 10 players available, several players stepped up big time.
Aaron Gordon scored 30 points. Bruce Brown contributed with his first career triple-double of 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Vlatko Cancar scored 20 points.
In a game of runs and large leads, the Nuggets outlasted the Thunder in the end.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A
Another game, another 30-point performance for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points on 8-of-20 shooting. He did most of his damage from the charity stripe: He went 14-of-14 from the free-throw line, which was a career high.
Gilgeous-Alexander also finished with 11 assists and seven rebounds.
The biggest knock on Gilgeous-Alexander’s night is the fact he scored four points and went 1-for-6 from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime. When the Thunder couldn’t answer back, it eventually snowballed to the Nuggets slowly taking momentum over and stealing a road win.
A couple more timely Gilgeous-Alexander buckets in the fourth quarter could’ve changed that but it ultimately didn’t happen.
Isaiah Joe: A-plus
When the Thunder needed a spark, Isaiah Joe provided it.
Despite receiving inconsistent minutes this season, Joe gave the Thunder much-needed points. He scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from three.
Joe was also a game-high plus-17 in his 21 minutes.
Much like the overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks earlier this season, Joe was the unlikely hero for the Thunder. This time around though, the Nuggets survived Joe’s hot shooting.
Aleksej Pokusevski: B
After a one-game absence, Aleksej Pokusevski made his return from an ankle sprain and was penciled into the starting lineup.
Pokusevski finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and went 2-of-4 from three in 29 minutes. Pokusevski also recorded three blocks.
Jalen Williams: B
Off the bench, Jalen Williams contributed with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting and shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Outside of Joe, Williams was the best player off the bench for the Thunder. Williams also was given the starting nod to start the second half.
In his first game without a mask, Williams played like one of the best players for the Thunder in his 30 minutes before eventually fouling out.
