Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-93 home win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of their Western Conference second-round series Sunday.
The Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2016. Oklahoma City opens the conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home Tuesday.
After scoring just six points in Thursday’s loss, Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams bounced back in a big way, pouring in 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Gilgeous-Alexander was 12 of 19 from the floor with three steals and no turnovers.
“He (Williams) was amazing,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “He wouldn’t have played the way he played today last year, I know that 100 percent. To see him take that step forward is a really proud moment.”
Early on, it looked like the Nuggets were carrying over the momentum from their Game 6 win. Denver led by double digits with a minute left in the first quarter before the Thunder ripped off a 13-0 run spanning the first and second quarters to take the lead for the first time.
The Thunder grabbed the lead for good on Luguentz Dort’s 3-pointer with 7:20 left in the first half. Oklahoma City closed the first half on an 18-5 run, including back-to-back Denver turnovers that led to Williams buckets at the other end and helped the Thunder build a 60-46 lead at halftime.
Then the Thunder put the game on ice with a 37-point third quarter, with 10 of those points coming off the Nuggets’ five turnovers. Oklahoma City led by as many as 43 points in the fourth quarter.
Denver was also 3 of 14 from beyond the arc in the third quarter and finished the game just 10 of 45 on 3-pointers.
“To have the start we wanted and then to have it go sideways so quickly (was tough),” said Nuggets’ interim coach David Adelman. “I thought we controlled the pace of the game early, it’s easy to forget that now. … Once they got back into it, they kept bringing new people in and it did overwhelm us.”
A big part of the Thunder’s success was thanks to Alex Caruso’s defense. Despite a considerable size deficit, Caruso spent plenty of time on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who often found it difficult to find shots against Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense.
Jokic scored 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Caruso finished with a game-best plus-40 plus/minus rating.
“The volume of it today was a result of how effective it was, but looking at it was a priority going into today,” said Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault regarding Caruso’s efforts. “He did an unbelievable job individually.”
The Thunder scored 37 points off Denver’s 23 turnovers, while giving the ball up just 10 times themselves.
Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, who suffered a hamstring injury late in Game 6 and was a game-time decision, played more than 24 minutes, finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds.
“It means a lot, specifically for the city,” said Gilgeous-Alexander on advancing to the conference finals. “They’ve been so good all year. They’ve been behind us, through good, through bad. No team in the league has a home-court advantage like we do.”
–Field Level Media
