After trailing by as many as 14 points in Game 1 of their West semifinal series, the Denver Nuggets clawed their way back to within one after a pair of Aaron Gordon free throws with 11 seconds remaining in regulation. The Nuggets fouled Chet Holmgren on the ensuing inbounds pass, sending the Thunder center to the free-throw line with a chance to extend the lead; he missed both, giving the Nuggets one chance to go the length of the floor and make some magic happen.
Evidently, Gordon wasn’t content with just one game-winner in these playoffs.
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“I worked on my jumper a lot throughout the years,” Gordon told reporters after the game, “… it’s nice to have it all culminate in a game-winner.
“We didn’t want to miss the moment. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity. I’m glad we showed our grit, but we are not satisfied.”
Christian Braun rebounded the miss and kicked it ahead to Russell Westbrook. Rather than driving pell-mell into the paint, the Thunder legend-turned-Nuggets spark-plug fired a cross-court feed to Gordon, running the wing and racing to the 3-point line. Gordon stopped, popped and splashed a mammoth triple, giving Denver a two-point lead with 2.8 seconds to go. With no timeouts remaining, Oklahoma City had to settle for a three-quarter-court prayer by Jalen Williams; it went unanswered, giving the Nuggets a breathtaking 121-119 win that left the capacity crowd at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City absolutely stunned.
“It’s the playoffs, you only get a certain amount of chances,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman told reporters after the game. “… This is our opportunity tonight, live in the present … we never let go of the rope.”
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Gordon finished with 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting and 14 rebounds (seven offensive) in 39 minutes in the win, which dealt the No. 1-seeded Thunder their first loss of the 2025 postseason and earned Denver home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Jokić outduels SGA in MVP showdown
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić both showed why they’re two of the three finalists for this season’s Most Valuable Player trophy, repeatedly defanging defenses designed to stifle them. But as impressive as SGA was, scoring 33 points with 10 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block, Jokić, as he so often seems to do, once again made postseason history.
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With a number of teammates struggling against the length and pressure of Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense, Jokić carried the Nuggets, scoring 42 points on 15-for-29 shooting to go with 22 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal. He’s just the fifth player ever to score 40 points, grab 20 rebounds and dish five assists in a playoff game, joining Wilt Chamberlain, George McGinnis, Shaquille O’Neal and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Jokić scored 18 of his 42 in the fourth quarter, chiseling his way through multiple layers of Thunder defenders to get into the paint or earn his way to the foul line to chip away at the lead that Oklahoma City had held since the end of the first quarter. All quarter long, he kept the Thunder from running away; when he hit a pull-up 3 in Isaiah Hartenstein’s mug with just over a minute left to draw within one, you could feel the Thunder faithful squirming in their seats.
Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t shrink from the challenge, scoring 13 of his 33 in the final frame, including a tough stepback 3 on Gordon and an inbounds dunk that gave OKC a three-point lead with 11 ticks left:
But Alex Caruso fouled almost immediately on the Denver inbounds, aiming to prevent the Nuggets from getting up a 3-point attempt … but, in the process, sending Gordon to the line without wasting any clock. He made his pair, setting the table for the Holmgren foul and the madness that would ensue.
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Despite being at a decided rest disadvantage after going the distance against the Clippers while the Thunder sat home waiting after sweeping Memphis, Jokić and Jamal Murray had their two-man game working early, coming out of the gates hot and combining for 16 points in the first seven minutes to stake Denver to an early lead.
The Nuggets came out aggressive defensively, tightly contesting shots and hunting transition opportunities, looking to push off Oklahoma City turnovers and missed shots. Sometimes, the Thunder were able to erase their mistakes …
… and sometimes, they couldn’t.
The quick early pace favored the visitors, who scored eight fast-break points. Oklahoma City weathered Denver’s hot start, though, leaning on its league-best defense to get its own transition game cranked up and ripping off an 11-2 run to take a 27-26 lead after the opening 12 minutes.
Oklahoma City extended its lead with both MVP favorites resting to start the second quarter. Caruso sparked the run, picking off a Murray pass and delivering a hit-ahead feed to a streaking Cason Wallace for a fast-break layup, sprinting back for a chase-down block on Murray in transition, drilling a pair of 3s and assisting on another to put the Thunder up double digits — all par for the course on a night that saw him chip in 20 points, five steals, six assists and two blocks in 26 manic minutes off the OKC bench.
Denver a team on a mission
The Nuggets defense came into Game 1 aiming to gum up Oklahoma City’s offensive works by loading up on Gilgeous-Alexander, intentionally and determinedly helping off complementary shooters, as they did to the likes of Kris Dunn last round. The approach paid off: Caruso and Luguentz Dort took nearly as many 3-point attempts (11) as the rest of the Thunder combined (13), as OKC shot just 7-of-24 from distance in the first half and posted a half-court offensive rating of 90.9 through two quarters — on pace for one of their least efficient half-court scoring performances of the season.
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Denver’s problem, though: keeping the Thunder in the half-court. Seven of the Nuggets’ nine first-half turnovers were live-ball cough-ups, which Oklahoma City turned into 15 points. With OKC generating more than 1.5 points per possession in transition, and with non-Jokić-and-Murray Nuggets combining to shoot just 9 for 30 from the floor, even a misfiring version of the Thunder had the recipe for a 60-50 halftime lead.
Caruso started the second half in place of Hartenstein, and continued to make his presence felt …
… but Denver was able to get its offense unstuck to the tune of 35 third-quarter points by pounding the offensive glass — nine offensive rebounds in the frame, leading to 12 second-chance points. The Nuggets closed the third on a 17-8 run to draw within five points entering the fourth quarter at 90-85 … only for Caruso to open the final frame with another 3 and another steal to keep Denver at arm’s length.
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The Thunder couldn’t put Denver away, though. Every time they pushed the lead back to double digits, the Nuggets would respond: a Gordon 3 or Braun layup here, a pair of free throws there, a bit of Jokić bully-ball brilliance to keep the lights on. Add it all up, and the Nuggets ended up finishing the game on a 19-6 run.
When Westbrook (18 points on 7-for-13 shooting in 30 minutes off the Denver bench) missed an open corner 3 that would’ve put the Nuggets up by two with 25 seconds to go, it seemed like all that scratching and clawing to stay connected wouldn’t be enough. When Gordon rebounded the miss, only to see his putback attempt swallowed up by Williams and Hartenstein, and Caruso corralling the loose ball, it seemed like the comeback bid was over. As it turned out, though, it — like this series — was just getting started.
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With the win, the visiting team has now won the first three games of the second round of the playoffs, with Indiana topping Cleveland on Sunday and New York shocking Boston earlier Monday.
Game 2 of the Nuggets-Thunder series is 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
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