OKC stifles Denver defensively and battles back late in a Game 4 win that never sanded off the rough edges.
DENVER — Oklahoma City breezed through a 68-win regular season and 4-0 first round of the playoffs, proving it can win big. And then, in the most important game to date, the Thunder showed it can also win ugly.
It was that or fall behind 3-1 in this Western Conference semifinal with the Denver Nuggets, risking a life on the edge. Therefore, on a day when the shots didn’t fall for either team, the Nuggets eventually did topple, and the top seed in the West can exhale.
It’s all square at two games each, with the best-of-seven headed back to OKC. The Thunder proved to be the better team when it counted Sunday, and for that matter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the better Kia MVP candidate during that stretch.
“Those guys made plays that pushed them over the edge,” said Nuggets interim coach David Adelman. “It was about who was going to make that final run. We didn’t play well enough the last six minutes to win a playoff game.”
Here are five takeaways from OKC’s 92-87 win in Game 4, turning this series into a best-of-three.
1. OKC didn’t check out at closing time
Lost in the dominance of the 2024-25 Thunder is this: OKC has the youngest team in the league.
That’s impressive, given the results. But on multiple times this season, inexperience showed — the Thunder couldn’t routinely close tight games properly. That was the flaw, the nitpick on an otherwise thorough season.
This wasn’t an issue in Game 4. After trailing by six at the start of the fourth, OKC was the smarter, the more efficient , the thirstier and, perhaps more tellingly, the more energetic team in a game that had a 1:30 p.m. local tipoff (more on that below).
“We stayed the course,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder held the Nuggets to 18 points and outscored them by 11 in the fourth quarter. They elevated over a Denver team that, less than 48 hours earlier, was the one being celebrated for being clutch and wise.
2. Shai also stayed calm, waited his chance
What a difference a few days make for the league’s leading scorer. Actually, make that a few fourth quarters. In Game 3, Shai missed seven of his eight shots in the quarter, appeared frustrated and scored a combined total of three points in the fourth and overtime.
This time: Nine points to just one turnover, all while forcing the Nuggets to constantly throw double-teams his way and leave his teammates open for shots.
Most impressive is he did this despite, once again, not being sharp for much of the game. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts and never really established a rhythm for three quarters. He needed that fourth quarter just to finish with 25 points, still nearly eight below his season average.
Still, with Jalen Williams enduring chilly 2-for-13 shooting and no real second option, Shai took it upon himself to snatch victory.
“My mentality was whatever it takes to win,” he said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have very high expectations for myself, I always have. I always dream big and reach stars. I try to achieve my goals.”
3. No joke: Jokić seems bamboozled
Shots aren’t dropping, the defense against him is tightening and the frustration is rising. Even worse, this is becoming a habit, or at least a trend, in this series for Nikola Jokić, who is still searching for a groove before it’s too late.
His teammates bailed him out in Game 3 when he went 0-for-11 on 3-point shooting. This time, not so much, and in a game decided by five points, Jokić’s struggles were heightened, and perhaps to blame.
OKC’s defense applied by Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren is making him work; this is clear and Jokić admitted as much.
“They are physical and a bit handsy,” he said.
The Thunder dig down to grind out a crucial win on the road in Denver, and are well-positioned heading into a pivotal Game 5.
Still, some of his issues are also self-inflicted. There are too many stretches where he’s looking like … not a Kia MVP finalist, maybe? If he’s to be judged by his typical level of greatness, then yes, that’s certainly the case.
The cold shooting spread to his 2-point attempts; he couldn’t connect regularly with those, either. His Game 4 stats may seem very respectable — 27 points, 13 rebounds — but hardly describe the truth of the matter.
He shot 7-for-22. His first basket came midway through the second quarter. He made careless passes, and more telling, deferred late in the game, when the Nuggets cried for a savior.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said, trying to explain his problems.
4. Bench bails out OKC
Shai didn’t win this game exclusively. Nor did Williams, Chet Holmgren or Lu Dort. Attach this victory to the bench and, in particular, to Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace, with help from Alex Caruso. When nothing else worked for OKC, they checked in and came to the rescue. The bench was boss.
Wiggins and Wallace combined to shoot eight-for-15, including six-for-nine from deep. That made them outcasts in a sloppy night. They made shots, went hard to the glass (11 rebounds combined) and were aggressors on defense, to the point they kept Dort, the team’s defensive ace, on the bench.
“That’s what we’ve been all year,” said Shai. “We’ve had injuries and guys stepped up their role. We’ve been a team that has done whatever it takes.”
Adelman added: “The difference is their bench lit a fuse for them. They made 3s. Those guys made a huge impact.”
5. An early tip-for-tat wasn’t welcome
Oklahoma City has built a team with current and future potential.
Game 3 of this series was Friday night and went into overtime. Game 4 began at 1:30 p.m. local. That’s less than 48 hours to rest and prepare for an intense, physical and competitive playoff game. Nobody on either team was thrilled with it.
“A lot of tired legs out there, for both teams,” said Adelman. “Right at the start of the game you could see the legs were not there.”
Although this evidence might be circumstantial, it contributed to the shockingly poor shooting — and poor play overall — by both teams, especially in the first half. Here are the grim details:
- The combined first-quarter points totaled 25, with the Nuggets getting just eight. Both teams combined for eight field goals and eight turnovers.
- The 3-point shooting? They combined to miss 23 of 24 in the first quarter and went on to miss 31 of their first 32.
- The Nuggets started 0-for-16 from deep until Russell Westbrook, of all people, broke the spell and the home crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Denver was more vulnerable than OKC because the Nuggets can’t match the Thunder’s depth. The Nuggets’ starters are mostly burning 40-plus minutes per night, and it showed on their legs in the fourth quarter. Under these conditions, the early tipoff was costly; Jokić missed a pair of key free throws with Denver down 84-82.
“I had to be creative as I could to help them keep their legs,” said Adelman.
In the end, the Nuggets bore the brunt. There’s a big difference between being up 3-1 against the top seed and being 2-2. Any margin for error just evaporated for the Nuggets with that loss.
“We are 4-4 against them for the season,” said Jokić. “We just need to give ourselves a chance.”
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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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