Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder dominate Sport 7 playoff decider towards Denver Nuggets to arrange a Western Convention finals conflict towards the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 factors to guide the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder to a 125-93 dwelling win over the Denver Nuggets in Sport 7 of their Western Convention second-round NBA playoff sequence.
The Thunder superior to the Western Convention finals for the primary time since 2016. They open the convention finals towards the Minnesota Timberwolves at dwelling on Tuesday.
After scoring simply six factors in Thursday’s loss, Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams bounced again in an enormous manner, pouring in 24 factors on 10-of-17 taking pictures in Sunday’s Sport 7. Gilgeous-Alexander was 12 of 19 from the ground with three steals and no turnovers.
“He [Williams] was wonderful,” stated Gilgeous-Alexander. “He wouldn’t have performed the best way he performed at this time final yr, I do know that one hundred pc. To see him take that step ahead is a very proud second.”
Early on, it regarded just like the Nuggets had been carrying over the momentum from their Sport 6 win. They led by double digits with a minute left within the first quarter earlier than the Thunder ripped off a 13-0 run spanning the primary and second quarters to take the lead for the primary time.
The Thunder grabbed the lead for good on Luguentz Dort’s 3-pointer with 7 minutes 20 seconds left within the first half. They closed the primary half on an 18-5 run, together with back-to-back Nuggets turnovers that led to Williams’s buckets on the different finish and helped the Thunder construct a 60-46 lead at half time.
Then the Thunder put the sport on ice with a 37-point third quarter, with 10 of these coming off the Nuggets’ 5 turnovers. The Thunder led by as many as 43 factors within the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets had been additionally 3 of 14 from past the arc within the third quarter and completed the sport simply 10 of 45 on 3-pointers.
“To have the beginning we needed after which to have it go sideways so shortly [was tough],” stated Nuggets’ interim coach David Adelman. “I believed we managed the tempo of the sport early, it’s straightforward to neglect that now … As soon as they obtained again into it, they saved bringing new individuals in and it did overwhelm us.”
A giant a part of the Thunder’s success was due to Alex Caruso’s defence. Regardless of a substantial deficit, Caruso spent loads of time on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who typically discovered it troublesome to search out photographs towards Oklahoma Metropolis’s top-ranked defence.
Jokic scored 20 factors on 5-of-9 taking pictures, whereas Caruso completed with a game-best plus-40 plus/minus ranking.
“The amount of it at this time was a results of how efficient it was, however taking a look at it was a precedence going into at this time,” stated Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault concerning Caruso’s efforts. “He did an unbelievable job individually.”
The Thunder scored 37 factors off Denver’s 23 turnovers, whereas giving the ball up simply 10 instances themselves.
Nuggets ahead Aaron Gordon, who suffered a hamstring harm late in Sport 6 and was a game-time choice, performed greater than 24 minutes, ending with eight factors and 11 rebounds.
“It means so much, particularly for the town,” stated Gilgeous-Alexander on advancing to the convention finals. “They’ve been so good all yr. They’ve been behind us, via good, via unhealthy. No staff within the league has a home-court benefit like we do.”