Denver Nuggets looking to match Oklahoma City Thunder’s defensive intensity in NBA clash

OKLAHOMA CITY – The top offensive team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) meet the league’s top defensive team when the Denver Nuggets visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb 27 (Feb 28 morning, Singapore time).

The Nuggets come into the game with an NBA-best 120.7 offensive rating, which measures the number of points scored per 100 possessions. On the other hand, the Thunder lead the league with a 106.4 defensive rating – points allowed per 100 possessions.

Denver coach David Adelman has been trying to get more from his team defensively for much of this season and progress was on display in the 103-84 win over the Boston Celtics on Feb 25, when they had their best defensive performance of the season so far.

“For us to do anything uniquely special this season, the defence has to come along,” he said.

“The challenges will keep coming with OKC next. So it’s just got to be a more consistent thing.”

It will be Denver’s first trip to Oklahoma City since the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets with a 125-93 win in Game 7 of their second-round series in May 2025.

Neither team are close to full strength though.

Denver’s Jamal Murray left the Feb 25 game due to illness, while the Nuggets also remain without Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon, who are recovering from hamstring injuries.

Oklahoma City had just nine players available during the second half of their 124-116 loss to the Pistons in Detroit on Feb 25.

They were already without starters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in that game, plus key reserves Ajay Mitchell and Alex Caruso.

Isaiah Joe and Branden Carlson left with injuries in the first half.

Although the Thunder are likely to have more players available on Feb 27, Jaylin Williams figures to continue to play a significant role with a career-high 30 points in the loss to the Pistons.

“We just have a group of resilient guys,” Williams said.

“We’ve been in a lot of different situations and I think regardless of what situation we’re in, we’re going to go at it the same way.

“We’re going to go out there, leave it all out on the court. We’re going to play defence, we’re going to play hard.”

The game will be the second of four meetings between the teams this season. The Thunder won the first, 121-111, in Denver on Feb 1.

Although it certainly would not be front and centre in the game, it will be the first matchup between fellow Serbs Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and Nikola Topic of the Thunder.

After sitting out last season due to an anterior cruciate ligament tear and the first 55 games of this season after an off-season testicular cancer diagnosis, Topic has played the last five games for Oklahoma City, averaging 3.2 points and 2.0 assists in more than 10 minutes per game.

Jokic is looking forward to finally sharing an NBA court with Topic after the two have been teammates with the Serbian national team.

“He’s a really good guy,” he said. “Really talented. He’s the future of Serbian basketball.”

Meanwhile in NBA action on Feb 26, Royce O’Neale hit a three-pointer with 0.9sec remaining on the clock to help the Phoenix Suns clinch a 113-110 home win against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Suns were led by 28 points from Grayson Allen off the bench, while guard Collin Gillespie added 21 points.

Los Angeles were unable to take advantage of a massive 41-point performance from Luka Doncic, who also had eight rebounds and eight assists.

LeBron James contributed 15 points for the visitors.

Elsewhere, Julian Champagnie had 26 points in a successful homecoming and the San Antonio Spurs extended their longest winning streak since the 2015-16 season to 11 with a 126-110 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in New York. REUTERS