Aaron Gordon hits his 2nd game-winner of the 2025 playoffs to help Denver steal Game 1 on the road in Oklahoma City.
A dunk that beat the buzzer by a split second. A 3-pointer that stripped the aura of invincibility from the top seed in the West.
Is there any other way Aaron Gordon can earn a team group hug? Any other way the Denver Nuggets can steal a crucial playoff game?
So stunning, so unexpected. That’s what Gordon and the Nuggets pulled off Monday, for the second time in roughly a week. Last time, it was Game 4 against the Clippers when Gordon’s dunk flipped that first-round series in Denver’s favor for good.
But this time … he gathered a pass from Russell Westbrook — whose redemption tour is going great — and with 2.8 seconds left calmly sank a 3-point shot along with all the Game 1 hopes in Oklahoma City.
Yes, the Thunder … remember them? Top seed in the West? Won 68 games? Had a 16-game cushion above the field in the standings? Swept Memphis in the first round?
It’s been a while since OKC played, but that’s the luxury the Thunder earned by taking care of business. They played only four games over 21 days, until Monday. They returned to work, only to look like a team that came off a seven-game series and ran out of gas.
And why would OKC foul up three points and Nikola Jokić not even on the floor, waiting at the scorer’s table?
Here are five takeaways from the Nuggets taking a 1-0 lead in the series with a 121-119 thriller:
1. Nuggets aren’t scared
This is most likely Oklahoma City’s toughest matchup of the playoffs. The Nuggets beat them twice during the season to split the series. They’ve got a championship bloodline and big-shot makers. Their star may not be announced as the Kia MVP, but he is the best player in basketball, and he demonstrated as much Monday.
Denver had all the answers in the moment of truth. That’s a champion’s heart, mentality and experience beating all at once. Even before Gordon’s game-winner, the Nuggets had three chances in the final moments to take the lead.
This is Oklahoma City’s biggest hurdle: this nucleus hasn’t won anything special. Until the Thunder in the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander era at least reach the NBA Finals, their fortitude will remain an issue, as it was in Chet Holmgren’s missed free throws that opened the door for Denver.
As for the Nuggets, they didn’t get anything from Michael Porter Jr. (two points) and shot just 31% on 3-pointers, yet still found a way to win on the road. One big reason was Gordon (22 points, 14 rebounds and the game-winner), of course, and …
2. Jokić was no joke
He’s simply astonishing and, right now, unstoppable. His performance — 42 points, 22 rebounds, six assists — was on another level again. Oklahoma City has a major problem.
Remember, the Thunder signed Isaiah Hartenstein for this very reason: to add another layer of defense against Jokić. OKC threw him and Holmgren, a pair of seven-footers, his way. They frustrated Jokić at times, but he plowed through and conquered anyway.
Most impressive is how Jokić managed to play the last 18 minutes of the game in foul trouble and still finish off the Thunder, scoring 18 points in the fourth. He also didn’t fall in love with the 3-pointer, taking only six while attacking OKC in the paint, a superb strategy.
The Nuggets, fresh off their confidence-building seven-game slugfest with the Clippers, are rolling right now. That said …
Inside The NBA: David Adelman's belief and Nikola Jokić's leadership drive Nuggets success
3. Schedule remains sinister for Nuggets
The limbs and tendons throb this time of year under normal circumstances. Then there’s what the Nuggets are up against. Their pace was set weeks ago when the first round began, and it goes something like this: Play, rest, play, rest … with some travel tossed in.
Game 1 of this series continued a challenging stretch for the Nuggets. It was their eighth game in 16 days, and they’ll play OKC every other night throughout this series unless it goes seven. In that case, the Nuggets will have two days between games.
This probably wouldn’t be a task for deep teams such as the Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. But the Nuggets use six players, seven tops, in their rotation. Interim coach David Adelman expects his starters to grind 35-plus minutes a night. Three of them played 40 or more minutes in Game 1. Denver’s lack of quality depth doesn’t afford it the luxury of in-game rest. This could ultimately catch up to the Nuggets — as if they didn’t have enough issues against the top seed.
4. Will Westbrook get another last laugh?
He’s a basketball icon in OKC, even more than Kevin Durant. Whenever he checks into a game in this town, regardless of what uniform he’s wearing, he gets a standing ovation. And he returns the acknowledgement with a salute.
Westbrook has no hate for OKC. Yet they’re in the way. So, he’s amped to treat the Thunder like everyone else on his hit list. And what a Game 1 for him: 18 points off the bench for the Nuggets, lots of energy plays, and the second of his two assists in Game 1 was to Gordon for the game-winning basket.
Westbrook is just days removed from his takedown of another former team, the Clippers. In Game 7 of that series, he dunked in the fourth quarter and intentionally hung on the rim to earn a technical, emphasizing the victory.
Since leaving OKC, every team that had Westbrook and dumped him is sitting at home, watching on TV: the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers. If you include the Utah Jazz, who held his rights twice in the last two years, that’s five teams watching to the Westbrook Playoff Tour.
5. Caruso comes through
The Thunder surrendered Josh Giddey last summer to get Alex Caruso and gave him a four-year, $81 million extension. Then they didn’t play him much all season. Caruso received the ninth-most minutes in the rotation, under 20 minutes a night, and came off the bench. Even for a team blessed with depth, it made you wonder.
Fine. They got him for this, the playoffs, hoping his defense would overcome streaky shooting. And suppose he supplied good defense and decent shooting? That’s what his Game 1 was all about, and given the circumstances, was perhaps his best with OKC.
He had 20 points in 26 minutes, draining five 3-pointers. He made defensive plays — blocking Jokić from behind, a chase-down block on Jamal Murray, and he opened the second half with a strip of Murray and a layup. All told, Caruso had five steals, two blocks and six assists for the league’s top-rated defense.
But the Thunder had no defense for Gordon. Now they are on the defensive, down 1-0 for Wednesday’s crucial Game 2 (9:30 ET, TNT).
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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