The Denver Nuggets defeated the No. 1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 in a thrilling NBA Western Conference second-round series opener with Aaron Gordon’s stunning 3-point performance and Nikola Jokic’s stunning 42-point masterpiece.
With four seconds left, Nuggets forward Gordon drained a 25-foot effort from outside the arc to take the win on Monday against a Thunder lineup that had already scored up to 14 points in the third quarter at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder held on to a double-digit lead for the majority of the fourth quarter, but their advantage came to an end when Jokic scored 18 points.
In addition to his 42-point tally, the towering three-time NBA MVP finished with 22 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and a steal.
With 10 seconds left, Chet Holmgren’s team were defending a slim 119-118 lead before conceding two missed free throws.
Denver rebounded and launched the final offensive offensive exercise that culminated with Gordon’s impressive 3-pointer.
The all-around power of Gordon, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, was praised by interim Denver coach David Adelman.
He is a Denver Nugget, the soul of our team, Adelman said, “I’m looking at ball-handling, responsibilities, leadership.” It’s cool to see him in that kind of a situation.
Gordon claimed that the Nuggets’ unflinching resolve had helped them win the game.
He claimed that “many guys stepped up.” No matter what the circumstances were, we had the conviction that we would prevail.
Jamal Murray scored 21 points for Gordon and Russell Westbrook, who added 18 points for Jokic.
With eight rebounds and eight assists, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 33 points, five three-pointers, and 20-point scoring from the bench.
On Wednesday, the second game of the best-of-seven series will take place.
Source: Aljazeera
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