Thunder outlast Nuggets, take 3-2 series lead

    Written by: William Petersen •

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    Picture via NBA X account

    The Oklahoma City Thunder won a critical Game 5 in Oklahoma City Tuesday night following another MVP-esque performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA finished with a team high 31 points on 12-for-23 shooting to accompany his six rebounds and seven assists. SGA facilitated a Thunder offense that did not shy away in the fourth quarter after heading into crunch time down eight. Lou Dort helped jumpstart the fourth quarter comeback after hitting three-straight triples to bring the Thunder within two with a little over eight minutes left in the game. The 112-105 victory for the Thunder was fueled by efficient three-point shooting by OKC in the fourth, as well as stout defense that nullified every Nuggets player except for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

    The Nuggets supporting cast has struggled in this series, and last night’s fourth quarter shooting performance might have put the nail in the coffin for Denver after Nikola Jokic was the only Nugget to score a basket besides a garbage time Jamal Murray layup with less than thirty seconds left. Below are the shooting numbers for the Nuggets in the fourth quarter.

    • Aaron Gordon: 0/3
    • Christian Braun: 0/1
    • Jamal Murray: 1/6
    • Michael Porter Jr. : 0/3
    • Peyton Watson: 0/1
    • Russell Westbrook: 0/1
    • Nikola Jokic: 4/6, 1/2 from three

    While the Nuggets supporters struggled, as they have all series, Nikola Jokic finally had a solid night shooting, finishing with 44 points on 17-for-25 shooting, while making five 3-pointers on seven attempts. Jokic also finished with 15 rebounds and five assists. Even though Jokic had another vintage playoff performance, the lack of help from the rest of the Nuggets squad is the glaring factor as to why Denver will not win another NBA Championship this season or this series. Michael Porter Jr has had a bad shoulder since the first round against the Clippers which could be a big factor as to why he has scored three points or less in three-out-of-the-five-games this series. Jamal Murray who had 28 points on 10-for-27 shooting, but only shot 3-for-13 from beyond the arc in Game 5 shows that the Nuggets do not have the offensive horses to hang with the 68 win Thunder.

    Oklahoma City’s biggest weakness coming into this season's playoffs was their lack of experience. I think that argument can start to be put to rest as the Thunder have now come back in the fourth quarter in two-straight games to take a commanding 3-2 series lead back to Denver. While SGA had a brilliant 31 points, the Thunder supporting cast did more than pull their own weight as every starter scored in double figures as well as shooting a combined 44% from three, including a huge late triple from Jalen Williams to help ice the game late.

    If the Nuggets want to have any chance of forcing a Game 7 in OKC, Denver will need their squad to have the best shooting performance of the season on Thursday. I am worried that OKC will have too much momentum heading into Game 6 but the Nuggets do shoot much more efficiently in Ball Arena and you know Jokic should have his team ready to go. If Denver can string together stops while being able to match OKC’s three-point shooting the Nuggets could find themselves playing in their second Game 7 of this playoffs.

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