Oklahoma City Thunder run away from the Denver Nuggets in Game 7, reach Western Conference Finals

Oklahoma City – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-93 home win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of their National Basketball Association Western Conference semi-final series on May 18, but was quick to hail teammate Jalen Williams.

The Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2016. Oklahoma City open the conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home on May 20.

After scoring just six points in their May 15 Game 6 loss, Williams bounced back in a big way, pouring in 24 points in 10-of-17 shooting. The 26-year-old Canadian guard Gilgeous-Alexander was 12 of 19 from the floor with four assists, three steals and no turnovers.

“He (Williams) was amazing. He wouldn’t have played the way he played today last year, I know that 100 per cent. To see him take that step forward is a really proud moment,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

The 24-year-old Williams emerged as the Thunder’s second option last season, but failed to replicate his regular-season heights in the play-offs as the West’s top seeds lost 4-2 to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

This campaign, the forward has raised his game even further, averaging career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game, earning him his first All-Star nod. But, again, there were questions about his play-off performances, which were compounded by his Game 6 showing.

Williams told ESPN: “You never know how many Game 7s you’re going to get. It’s an opportunity to be great. So, I was just more excited about playing and getting that opportunity.”

Early on, it looked like the Nuggets were carrying over the momentum from their Game 6 win. Denver led by double digits with a minute left in the first quarter before the Thunder ripped off a 13-0 run spanning the first and second quarters to take the lead for the first time at Paycom Centre.

The Thunder grabbed the lead for good on Luguentz Dort’s three-pointer with 7:20 left in the first half. Oklahoma City closed the first half on an 18-5 run, including back-to-back Denver turnovers that led to Williams buckets at the other end and helped the Thunder build a 60-46 lead at half-time.

Then the Thunder put the game on ice with a 37-point third quarter, with 10 of those points coming off the Nuggets’ five turnovers. Oklahoma City led by as many as 43 points in the fourth quarter.

Denver were also three of 14 from beyond the arc in the third quarter, and finished the game just 10 of 45 on three-pointers.

“To have the start we wanted and then to have it go sideways so quickly (was tough),” said Nuggets’ interim coach David Adelman.

“I thought we controlled the pace of the game early, it’s easy to forget that now... Once they got back into it, they kept bringing new people in and it did overwhelm us.”

A big part of the Thunder’s success was thanks to guard Alex Caruso’s defence. Despite a considerable size deficit, Caruso spent plenty of time on Nuggets star centre Nikola Jokic, who often found it difficult to find shots against Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defence.

Caruso told ESPN: “He’s a phenomenal player. His resume speaks for itself, but he’s a difficult matchup because he just does so many different things to get others involved and to influence the game.

“So, for me, it’s just about competing... being relentless with my energy, the effort to make it tough on him, and obviously the guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming that because I’m not doing that on my own.”

Jokic scored 20 points on five-of-nine shooting, while Caruso finished with a game-best plus-40 plus/minus rating.

“The volume of it today was a result of how effective it was, but looking at it was a priority going into today. He did an unbelievable job individually,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault regarding Caruso’s efforts.

The Thunder scored 39 points off Denver’s 22 turnovers, while giving the ball up just nine times themselves.

Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, who suffered a hamstring injury late in Game 6 and was a game-time decision, played more than 24 minutes, finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds.

“It means a lot, specifically for the city,” said Gilgeous-Alexander on advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

“They’ve been so good all year. They’ve been behind us, through good, through bad. No team in the league has a home-court advantage like we do.” REUTERS