The Denver Nuggets found a way to win in one of the loudest, best games I’ve ever attended at Ball Arena. They defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-104 in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead. Nikola Jokic had a horrible game, but it didn’t matter because his teammates picked him up in the best way.

Jamal Murray led the way with 27 points, eight assists, four steals, and some clutch plays on both ends of the floor. Aaron Gordon hit a massive three with 26 seconds left in the game to propel it to overtime, a massively clutch shot. Michael Porter Jr. was also fantastic, fighting through his shoulder injury to score 21 points and grab eight rebounds. Denver made it happen as a team tonight, making up for a poor Jokic performance with defense, intensity, and a pure will to win.

Here’s the Notes from Game 3:

First Quarter:

  • The environment in this game was absolutely nuts pregame. Friday night late night game. Ball Arena brought it
  • Nuggets start slow early, Thunder finding Chet Holmgren consistently on cuts and offensive rebounds
  • Jokic getting a bad whistle early with a screening foul on one end and a touch foul on the other guarding Chet, looks very frustrated by the officiating early
  • Aaron Gordon called for technical foul arguing he was fouled on a dunk attempt. He was pretty clearly fouled
  • Porter keeping Denver in it with some three-pointers, Murray also got some shots to go
  • Thunder creating good shots over and over against Denver’s zone

Nuggets trail 28-22 after first quarter.

Second Quarter:

  • Gordon hit a timely three on the left wing, his only make of the first half, Gordon is struggling to finish at the rim dating back to Game 2
  • Porter continued his timely shooting, starting 5-of-5 from the field on some very difficult jumpers mostly
  • Nuggets dodging bullets with the Thunder poor shotmaking. Denver should be up, and OKC is leaving the door open for them to hang around
  • Zeke Nnaji minutes?! They weren’t that bad, but he was still a -6 in 3 minutes
  • Jokic continuing to struggle offensively, five turnovers to one assist at half, just 2-of-9 from the field, glaringly bad performance in a big moment so far

Nuggets trail 56-51 at halftime.

Third Quarter:

  • Murray and Porter continue to hit enough shots to keep Denver attached while Jokic struggles
  • Back to back goaltending turnovers was pretty weird for Gordon and Jokic, but they were both legit. Another huge Gordon three stems the tide
  • Nuggets defense picked up a bit, but the Thunder outside shooting also went dry for a while until Alex Caruso hit a couple
  • Both teams hitting each other with body blows (metaphorically) but the Nuggets look gassed just hanging on by a thread
  • The Thunder should have had more second chance points than they did. There were several possessions when they grabbed multiple offensive rebounds but failed to capitalize
  • Huge Peyton Watson three cuts into the Thunder lead. He’s having a great shotmaking series

Nuggets trail 83-80 after third quarter.

Fourth Quarter:

  • Three-pointer from Russell Westbrook gets the scoring started, a bit of a quieter night for Russ to this point
  • Jalen Williams, already having a good game, making some very impressive plays off the dribble in the non-SGA minutes
  • Jamal Murray trying to keep Denver in it, making some shots and creating some
  • Nuggets offense struggled, but they allowed just 19 points in the quarter to stay attached
  • Jokic keeps, inexplicably, going back to the three-pointer. They’re open shots, but he clearly didn’t have it tonight
  • From 6:20 to 1:50, the Thunder scored just two points until a clutch Jalen Williams three
  • Aaron Gordon hit an incredibly clutch three from the left corner with 26 seconds remaining to force overtime after misses from SGA and Jokic

Nuggets tied at 102 vs Oklahoma City Thunder.

Overtime:

  • Two points allowed all overtime
  • Huge Michael Porter Jr. three after not attempting a shot for a long time
  • SGA’s struggles really being highlighted from end of fourth quarter to now. Christian Braun did a fantastic job of staying attached without fouling
  • But even when it was Jamal Murray getting switched onto SGA, Murray absolutely locked him down with some impressive defense and hustle
  • Jokic and Murray both got it going a bit in the OT period, and that was enough to separate from OKC

Nuggets win 113-104 in OT vs Oklahoma City Thunder.

Short Takeaway

This was Denver’s most important game of the playoffs and perhaps their most remarkable. Game 1 felt like they caught OKC by surprise with how well they played. Game 2, OKC reestablished order in their mind.

Game 3 was always going to determine what kind of series we were in for. Was OKC going to impose their will again, or were the Nuggets going to make it a difficult contest and try to win it late? Clearly, it was the latter. Just like in Game 1, the Nuggets held on for dear life until they found an opening. Once they identified an opportunity, they didn’t relinquish it. It was a truly impressive performance from Denver that they earned through pure force of will.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, the Thunder scored just 21 points over the final 17 minutes. Part of that was inexperience on their part and not being able to hit the shots that mattered. Part of it was Denver applying high levels of pressure and forcing role players into tough situations in which they cracked under pressure. Lu Dort airballed a three so badly, you could fit a second basketball being the trajectory of his jumper and the edge of the rim. isaiah Hartenstein shot 5-of-14 from the field on what were effectively the same floater/push shots he was knocking down in Game 2.

As long as Denver can continue applying the pressure and trust their veteran status to get them through a tough moments, they can win this series. Game 4 will be absolutely critical as well, but it’s clear the Nuggets are far more ready for it than we ever thought they could be.

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