Rested Oklahoma City Thunder prepare to host battle-tested Denver Nuggets in Game 1

OKLAHOMA – It has been nine days since the Oklahoma City Thunder last played, while the Denver Nuggets are coming off a gruelling seven-game series against the Los Angeles Clippers that ended on May 3.

That contrast in schedules may be a factor, as the Thunder and Nuggets meet in Game 1 of their National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference semi-finals on May 5 (May 6, Singapore time) at Paycom Centre.

Both teams are looking to advance further than they did last season, when both lost in the second round – the Thunder to the Dallas Mavericks and Nuggets to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The series will feature two – Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic – of the three finalists for the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, which will be announced during the series.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points and 6.5 assists per game in four meetings against the Nuggets this season.

While the Thunder swept Memphis in the first round, including winning the opener by 51 points, Gilgeous-Alexander was slow to get going against the Grizzlies.

But, after shooting just 35.3 per cent in the first three games of that series, Gilgeous-Alexander rebounded to score 38 on 13-of-24 shooting in the series clincher on April 26.

Jokic, a three-time MVP, averaged 24 points, 11.6 rebounds and 10.1 assists in the Nuggets’ first-round series. The Serb had a pair of triple-doubles against the Thunder this season, and scored 35 on 15-of-20 shooting in their last meeting on March 10.

The series also feature the present of the Thunder franchise against their past.

Gilgeous-Alexander came to Oklahoma City in July 2019 after spending his rookie season with the Clippers. Less than a week later, Russell Westbrook – who, along with Kevin Durant, helped the Thunder become play-off regulars – was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Now at Denver, Westbrook no longer has the same explosiveness that made him a triple-double machine, but he showed in the first round that there is still gas left in the tank. In the series, he shot nearly 42 per cent from beyond the arc and averaged 13.8 points per game off the bench.

“You have to account for the fact that he’s gonna come in the game ready to rock and the pace of the game is gonna go up. He’s gonna be trying to make something happen right off the bat and you can’t be flat-footed,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

Westbrook played a key role in Game 7 against the Clippers, helping Denver create some separation in the second quarter.

“My ability to be a force of nature on the floor is what I pride myself on,” Westbrook said.

“So, whatever that looks like – it may be a turnover, it may be a missed shot, it may be a steal, it may be a dunk, it may be a missed three, it may be a made three. It’s gonna be all of that. So, just take it for how it comes, and whatever happens you go with it.”

The teams split their four games in the regular season, including splitting back-to-back games in early March in Oklahoma City in their last meetings. The Thunder won 127-103 on March 9, while the Nuggets triumphed 140-127 a day later.

But all of those games came before Denver’s surprising late-season move to fire coach Michael Malone.

Daigneault said he expected the Nuggets to look different than they did against the Clippers.

“I mean, good data point,” he said of studying Denver’s first-round series. “It gives you a good understanding of how they play against the Clippers, but it doesn’t give you a good understanding of how they play against us. This series will have its own face.”

At the Toyota Centre on May 4, the Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA play-offs after grabbing a 103-89 Game 7 victory over the Rockets.

The Warriors were the last team to advance to the conference semi-finals, with Buddy Hield drilling nine three-pointers on 11 attempts on the way to a game-high 33 points.

The semi-finals got under way on May 4 with the Indiana Pacers handing the Eastern Conference top seeds Cleveland Cavaliers a 121-112 defeat on their home floor.

Andrew Nembhard drilled five of Indiana’s 19 three-pointers on the way to a team-high 23 points.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists for the Pacers, who had six players scoring double figures at Rocket Arena. REUTERS, AFP