Sunday night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexader put up 40 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder looked every bit the dominant team in the West beating Denver.
Monday night, the Nuggets got their revenge.
Nikola Jokic put up a monster line of 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists, sparking the Nuggets to 140 points and a 140-127 win.
Denver and Oklahoma City split their two-game set and went 2-2 in the season series. If they meet in the Western Conference Finals, expect a long series.
Jamal Murray is Denver’s bellwether, and he had a good day on Monday, scoring 34 points for the Nuggets. When he is clicking, the Nuggets offense is nearly impossible to stop, even for an elite defense like the Thunder.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer, finished with 25 points. Some fans and pundits pointed to the two-game set between these teams as a potential factor in the MVP race, where Jokic and SGA are the clear frontrunners. Supporters of either player could walk away from these games making a case for their guy in what promises to be a close vote.
The Thunder’s leading scorer on the night was Lu Dort, who scored a season-high 26 points, including eight 3-pointers. Isaiah Hartenstein scored 20 points for Oklahoma City.
