In a span of less than five minutes Monday night, the “Oklahoma City isn’t ready for this” crowd got all the ammunition it needed.
The Thunder led most of the night by double-digits, by 13 at one point in the fourth quarter and by 11 with 4:31 left after a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 3-pointer. All OKC needed was its league-best defense to do its job, just execute down the stretch, and it would have another home playoff win. Then Denver went on a 19-6 run to close the game, capped off by another Aaron Gordon clutch moment, this one a game-winning 3-pointer.
AARON GORDON 3 FOR THE WIN!!!@nuggets take Game 1 in a THRILLER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fxV2ReRPZA
— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025
That combined with a 42-point, 22-rebound night from Nikola Jokic earned a resilient Denver Nuggets team a 121-119 road win and a 1-0 lead in this Western Conference Semi-Final series. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
This is a heartbreaking loss for the Thunder, who were up by double-digits most of the night but could not close it out.
“We’re gonna find out what we’re made of,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the loss. He finished the night with 33 points on 12-of-26 shooting.
ICYMI... the final two minutes of Nuggets/Thunder UNCUT 🍿💥
— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025
Denver pulls out the improbable win to take a 1-0 series lead! pic.twitter.com/loYAsoPJcc
If Oklahoma City wants to know why it lost, or if Denver wants to know why it won, there are three key things (in addition to Jokic being the best player on the court):
1) Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren have to be better. Williams was 5-of-20 shooting, Holmgren 5-of-11 but missed critical free throws. Denver set up a defense to make life difficult for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, making him play in a crowd, and while he got 33 points, someone else has to step up. Williams and Holmgren have to step up.
2) Offensive rebounds. Denver had 21 of them, leading to 27 second-chance points. Gordon had seven of those rebounds, and they kept key plays alive all night.
3) Missed free throws. Oklahoma City was 20-of-28 from the line, and no two misses were as critical as Holmgren’s two with 9.5 seconds left in the game and the Thunder up one.
Chet Holmgren to The Oklahoman: “I have to be better. I'm not one to shy from accountability. I have to be better. I have to execute better, especially down the stretch. We worked too hard as a collective, and we're too far along in this thing for situations like that to happen."
— Joel Lorenzi (@JoelXLorenzi) May 6, 2025
Holmgren’s teammates rightly pointed out this game was not lost in the last 15 seconds; this was a night of mistakes by the Thunder that left the door open just enough for Aaron Gordon to come barging through and get the win.
Gordon finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds for Denver, while Jamal Murray added 21 points and six assists. For the Thunder, after SGA’s 33, there was 20 off the bench from Alex Caruso, who also had five steals and played a fantastic game. Jalen Williams has to be better, 16 points on 5-of-20 shooting is not good enough.
