Murray and Gordon Ignite as Denver Survives Jokic’s Off Night in Thrilling OT Victory to Edge Thunder 2-1

Sometimes, even the brightest stars have an off night — and boy, did this one feel like that. Two frontrunners in the MVP race, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, both struggled mightily at the worst possible moments. Shai couldn’t get his shot to fall, dragging his usual efficiency down while still grabbing some boards. Jokic, usually a walking triple-double machine, seemed haunted by the three-point line, missing every attempt and coughing up turnovers like it was a bad habit. But here’s the kicker — it wasn’t the superstars who wrote the final chapter. Denver’s supporting cast, those gritty role players with playoff poise, took center stage and delivered just when it counted. Aaron Gordon, with a clutch triple that pushed the game into overtime, along with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., stepped up and showed why Denver’s not just playing for today but for something bigger—championship caliber composure. Meanwhile, the Thunder, fresh-faced and hungry but still green, couldn’t find their rhythm, especially from beyond the arc, leaving the door wide open for the Nuggets to pull away in the extra minutes and take a crucial 2-1 series lead. This one’s far from over, but it’s clear who’s been here before… and who’s still learning. LEARN MORE

More than just scoring, the Nuggets got stops down the stretch, with Oklahoma City scoring just two points in overtime. Part of that was the inexperience of the Thunder, who hunted mismatches and tried to run isolations off of them, but ultimately, that led to them being stagnant on offense and not getting enough ball movement. When they did get the chance, the Thunder just missed.The stories of this game were the Thunder’s cold shooting again, and the championship execution of the Nuggets down the stretch. Denver looked like the team that had been there before.Oklahoma City needs to get its shots falling and execute better down the stretch Sunday in Game 4 or the Thunder may be in a hole too deep to climb out of.
In overtime it was all Nuggets, who started the extra frame on a 7-0 run and never looked back, getting the 113-104 win. The Nuggets lead the series 2-1 with a critical Game 4 on Sunday night in Denver.

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting, plus he struggled down the stretch (but he did have 13 rebounds).It wasn’t just Gordon who stepped up on Jokic’s off night. Jamal Murray led Denver with 27 points, while Michael Porter Jr. had a clutch 21. In critical moments, the Nuggets can always fall back on the Murray/Jokic pick-and-roll, and good things just happen from that.The one bright spot for the Thunder was Jalen Williams, who scored 32 points on 11-of-21 and was impressive all night.That happened all night. As a team, Oklahoma City shot just 38.5%, and they were 9-of-35 (25.7%) from 3. Chet Holmgren was 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, as was Gilgeous-Alexander.• Nikola Jokic shot 8-of-25, including 0-of-10 from 3, on his way to 20 points and eight turnovers (but he did have 16 rebounds).It was a rough night for the men who will finish one-two in the MVP voting:“I do believe late in games you can rely on what you’ve seen and felt and done,” interim coach David Adelson said of the NuggetsThe difference was Denver’s role players stepped up, showing the composure of a championship team that had been there before. That started with Aaron Gordon, who scored 17 points and hit the clutch 3-pointer that forced overtime.“Losses always sting, especially in the playoffs,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “But what I would say is we are in the process of becoming a great team, and we’ve checked a lot of boxes in that process. One thing that it takes to be a great team is you get taken to the limit in the playoffs, and you’ve got a rise to the challenges that you’re confronted with.”