OKC's barrage of late 3-pointers fuels a 112-105 win vs. Denver in Game 5 for a 3-2 series edge.
OKLAHOMA CITY — On a night where one top-seeded team was sent home for the summer, the other took a significant step toward a trip to the conference finals.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were pressed to decide in a tight fourth quarter Tuesday and decided: We’re not the Cleveland Cavaliers.
No, they’re not. At least at the moment. And maybe never. This semifinal series with the Nuggets is going back to Denver, yet the momentum is back with OKC, along with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
All of the factors that elevated OKC above everyone else in the West — defense, ball delivery, presence in the paint and a Kia MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — were evident in Game 5 and especially down the stretch of yet another tense fourth quarter.
Once again, OKC shook loose from an annoying rap for not finishing.
And while the Nuggets, who received a welcome return to dominance by Nikola Jokić, aren’t finished off, they’re teetering and desperately searching for solutions right now after a game that saw them in control for much of it — their 12-point lead was their biggest of the series.
It was Thunder 112, Nuggets 105, and the OKC knockout punch could come Thursday.
Here are five takeaways from this entertaining and suspenseful game, which was a coin flip midway through the fourth quarter:
1. Oklahoma City stays steady again
The league’s youngest team, the one without rings in this series, the one with the postseason experience disadvantage … was smarter and calmer in the fourth quarter. Make it make sense. This is starting to become habit for OKC, and nightmarish for the Nuggets.
In that final quarter, which began with an eight-point Nuggets lead, the Thunder’s ball movement, decision-making, shot-making and nerves were better and defied all logic.
Where were Jokić’s teammates when it became clear he was shouldering the load alone? Credit OKC’s defense, which placed the handcuffs on all Denver shooters save one. In the fourth quarter, the only non-Jokić basket came from Jamal Murray, and it was a meaningless one with 41 seconds left.
And big shots? Gilgeous-Alexander elevated over Murray for an and-one, tying the game. Then the ball found Jalen Williams after being whisked around the floor, searching for the open man. His 3-pointer broke the tie for good with 78 seconds left.
“The answer is never a hero play or anything out of the ordinary,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about the team effort. “It’s trusting each other … it’s being who we are.”
Denver shot 5-for-21 in the fourth. The Nuggets were outscored by 11. And they left Paycom Center knowing they let an opportunity slip away.
2. Jokić is masterful, finally, but too little and too late
Jokić delivered in this game in the same manner in which he opened this series: by being a problem for OKC. In Game 1, Jokić had 42 points and 22 rebounds and helped the Nuggets steal a victory.
In the latest, he had 44 points and 15 rebounds, but no victory to show for a reawakening from misfired shots and careless mistakes. That version of the Jokić, who stumbled through the previous three games, was nowhere to be found Tuesday.
He knew he had to crack the OKC defensive code, which he did. He made 17 of 25 shots as his soft touch, tap-ins and even his 3-point shot (5-for-7) were working again.
However, Jokić was again meager with assists (only five), which was an issue. Whenever the double team arrived, he either couldn’t find the open man, or the open man couldn’t find the basket. That combination was especially costly in the fourth quarter when Jokić was once again a one-man show.
Jokić played the entire second half and Murray the entire fourth quarter. But Denver was desperate. Nuggets coach David Adelman said: “If it is fatigue, that’s on me.”
Denver went more than 7 minutes in the 4th quarter without a field goal. Could that be the result of tired players?
3. Dort delivers at both ends
This was Lu Dort’s most impactful performance in this series, and the bar was set pretty low. He spent much of the previous four games blowing open looks from deep and forced coach Mark Daigneault to make the difficult decision to bench Dort at times — and therefore lose his best defender — in favor of Alex Caruso and/or Cason Wallace.
Caruso and Wallace were solid in those situations. Dort didn’t force the coach’s hand this time.
Dort’s toughness and timing were reflective of OKC’s performance. When the ball arrived, he made Denver pay for ignoring him, going 4-for-8 on 3-pointers as all his shots were made in the second half.
Dort also pressed Murray constantly, giving him precious little room in which to work. Murray had his good stretches, mainly confined to the first three quarters. Dort wore Murray down and, by the fourth quarter, Murray’s minutes were down and he shot 1-for-6 in the quarter. He required 27 shots to score 28 points. Defenders will take that ratio any day of the week.
“There’s a special thing about him,” said Daigneault about Dort. “He’s always going to stand back up. He’s always going to respond, he’s always going to compete.”
4. Porter Jr. is puzzling and maybe unplayable
Porter Jr. is working with a problematic left shoulder, so he has a legit excuse. Still, that doesn’t dismiss the reality — Porter Jr. has been a liability more often than not in a series where he has scored in double digits just once.
His jump shot, which keeps him on the floor, was a vapor on Tuesday. He only took seven shots, missed six — duplicating his Game 3 inefficiency — and all seemed to come at crucial, soul-crushing times for the Nuggets. He missed a chance to tie the game in the final few minutes, and his last shot was an airball. He didn’t make a 3-pointer and had more fouls than buckets (four to one).
When he’s not hitting, the Nuggets are scrambling to find a deep-shooting replacement. They tried Julian Strawther, a ghost in the rotation in this series, and gave Peyton Watson a chance. They helped on hustle plays but made only two combined shots.
Russell Westbrook? The disrespect for his fading skills continued as OKC left him open. He shot 1-for-7 from the field.
5. OKC was punishing in the paint
The sneaky little secret in Game 5 was that Jokić wasn’t the only significant big man on the floor. The Thunder had a pair in Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, who couldn’t stop Jokić — yet Jokić couldn’t stop them, either.
OKC attacked Jokić whenever possible, partly in an effort to draw fouls and send him to the bench. That strategy didn’t exactly work as he didn’t earn his first foul until late in the third quarter. But there were benefits. The two OKC seven-footers shot 13-for-19 and their 29 points helped diversify the Thunder’s offense. OKC found the two big men on lobs and backdoor cuts, which confused Denver and helped lead the Thunder’s late rally.
What’s interesting is how the Nuggets are mainly using just one big man. Whenever Jokić rests, Aaron Gordon usually assumes that position. There’s no interest in shaking the cobwebs from DeAndre Jordan, who, surprisingly,y was a good rebounder and interior defender in relief this season.
The Nuggets are running out of options and adjustments. They’re left with one goal: win Thursday, or else.
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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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