The Denver Nuggets had all Summer to think about the sting of losing a game seven on their homecourt. Tonight they finally had their chance to put that game behind them. Unfortunately, their opponent was the Oklahoma City Thunder who might be the best team in the Western Conference. They certainly looked the part with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren looking like true superstars. The Nuggets meanwhile shot terrible from three and outside of Nikola Jokic (who registered his first triple double of the season) struggled to find consistency. In the end that spelled disaster for the home team and the Thunder win easily, 102-87.
The game started on a positive note for Denver with Jokic knocking down his first three point attempt of the season. Neither team had a ton of success shooting early on and it stayed close with Denver building a small lead. Jamal Murray knocked down a couple of shots while Jokic nearly assisted or scored on every bucket and they pushed the Nuggets lead to eight which forced an OKC timeout. Russell Westbrook and Julian Strawther came in but it was the Thunder who started knocking down all the shots. They went on a 10-1 run capped by a Holmgren and-1. The Nuggets offense was clunky, even with Jokic still on the floor, and they allowed OKC to take the lead. Denver scored just three points in the final six minutes of the quarter and the Thunder led 31-24 after one.
The Nuggets continued to struggle with outside shooting to open the second quarter but they found some offense at the rim which kept them in the game. The Thunder were making shots with consistency though, and when the lead got back up to eight with over eight minutes to go Jokic, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon checked back into the game. Every offensive possession looked like a chore still for Denver despite the starters being back on the floor. At the halfway mark of the second they still trailed by eight. The Thunder cooled off a bit on offense and the Nuggets had their opportunities but they continuously shot themselves in the foot with turnovers. Holmgren got a couple of baskets and SGA showed off his mid-range mastery which kept Denver from closing the gap. At half it was still a seven point Thunder lead, 58-51.
Shai opened the second half with a three but the Nuggets responded and got a quick timeout from Mark Daigneault. Denver’s frontcourt did the majority of the damage with Jokic setting up Porter and Gordon to chip away at the lead. They simply could not buy a three pointer though. OKC went on a run led by Holmgren and SGA and pushed their lead back up to nine. Denver’s offense was ice cold but the Thunder failed to make more of the opportunity for several minutes. It remained painful to watch going down the stretch of the third while Holmgren and SGA continued to wreak havoc on the Nuggets. After a huge dunk from Chet, Malone called timeout and got called for a technical foul with the Nuggets trailing by fourteen. OKC went on a 12-0 run to push it all the way to a nineteen point lead near the end of the quarter. At the end of the third the score was 85-68.
The bench unit tightened up their defense and got a couple baskets at the start of the fourth but the inability to hit a shot outside remained a problem. Jalen Williams got in the action and Denver started to look like they were giving up. Westbrook finally knocked down a three but it made little difference. OKC kept getting points through Shai and Holmgren and the lead stayed just under twenty with the quarter winding down. With about three minutes left in the game Malone got the reserves up off the bench but then changed his mind about subbing them in with the Nuggets on a min-run. It didn’t last and with about a minute and half to go he got the bench in and garbage time was officially on. The Nuggets lose their opener in disheartening fashion, 102-87.
MVP candidate vs MVP candidate
There wasn’t a lot to like about the Nuggets performance tonight but Jokic was his usual brilliant self. He started the season off with a triple double and threw out highlight pass after highlight pass. The Nuggets needed him to be more of a scorer but with no one hitting outside shots the Thunder just doubled anytime Joker got the ball. Meanwhile SGA was unstoppable. He’s just so smooth that he scores effortlessly. It didn’t matter who Denver tried to defend him with, he got to his spots and knocked down his shots and put an excellent first chapter in his MVP campaign.
Nowhere to go but up with the shooting
If you were concerned about Denver’s three point shooting coming into this season then it’s probably a good time to get your blood pressure checked. That was an abysmal performance from outside. The Nuggets ended up shooting 17.9% from three and far too many of their misses were wide open looks from guys they’re depending on to be threats from outside like Christian Braun, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson. It’s only one game, but I can’t imagine a worse start for the Nuggets offensively.
Chet was dominant, Russ was a rollercoaster
There was an interesting dichotomy in the guys bringing the energy for their respective teams tonight. On the Thunder that was Holmgren who erased shots and threw down big dunks while still being in control throughout. It was less so for Westbrook, the Nuggets sparkplug. He had some moments for sure and a couple nice blocks himself but there was also silly turnovers and questionable shot selection. That’s just the ride you get with Russ I suppose. Meanwhile, Holmgren looks like he’s picking up right where he left off after a superb rookie campaign.
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