On November 4, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Thunder hosted the Nuggets. The goal of the Thunder this season and the Rockets, Magic, and Pistons has always been, but also to strive for Vin Banyama, but the first 7 games down, the Thunder's performance was unexpected, after the early start of three consecutive defeats to set the tone, the last 4 games, consecutive defeats against the Clippers (double), Mavericks and Magic, Alexander continued to erupt, Keidy and Dort two organized a defensive core, the whole Thunder played very well. The Nuggets started with a 4-3 game, but the loss to the Lakers did hit their morale, and coach Malone also publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the player's performance. Today's game, both teams are the strongest lineups, Nuggets: Murray + Pope + Porter + Gordon + Jokic, Thunder: Alexander + Keidy + Dort + Bokuszewski + Earle.
The Nuggets ushered in a big outbreak at the beginning, directly knocking the thunder into confusion! Murray's three-pointer, Gordon's dunk + two consecutive chasing three-pointers, Porter also hit a layup, a wave of 13-0 to stop the Thunder. After Earl and Keady helped the Thunder score 4 points in a row to stop the bleeding, Gordon's violent dunk + Porter and Pope made two three-pointers, and the Nuggets led by 17 points in less than half the game! In the second half, the Thunder's offensive momentum picked up, and Alexander and Earl blossomed inside and out, chasing all the way to single-digit point difference. At the end of the quarter, Bruce Brown + Pope + Gordon + Porter hit five three-pointers in a row to open the gap again. After the first quarter, the Nuggets led the Thunder 42-29, and the Thunder were barely supported by Alexander's singles.
Back in the second quarter, Murray continued to hit three-pointers, and after Nagy scored, the Nuggets extended their lead to as many as 19 points. At the critical moment, Thunder Kenridge Williams made a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, and the two sides maintained a 15-point gap since then, falling into a tug-of-war. During this period, Jokic's offensive desire was not strong, and the Nuggets repeatedly lost inside, but the Reid and Gordon duo blossomed inside and out. At the end of the quarter, Alexander continued to take over the game, narrowing the gap to about 10 points at one point, and at halftime, the Nuggets led the Thunder 71-57, Gordon scored 23 points, about 2 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and the Thunder had 21 points on Alexander.
In the third quarter, the Thunder began to exert force. Keady and Alexander made back-to-back kills, and after Alexander's dunk narrowed the deficit to eight points, the Nuggets called a timeout. Back from the timeout, Jokic began to score, but the Thunder trio broke out at the same time, Keedy's three-pointer, Alexander's European step layup, Dort's counterattack to pick the basket, the Thunder chased to only 2 points! The two sides then fell into a tug-of-war, with Jokic dominating the offense and Keady continuing to blast three-pointers to bite the score. At the end of the quarter, Alexander scored on consecutive jumpers, Gion and Keady led the team to the Nuggets, and Porter's jumper overtimed. At the end of the third quarter, the Thunder led the Nuggets 95-93, and the Thunder exploded for 38 points in the third quarter.
The first three minutes of the fourth quarter were in a stalemate, with Jokic's jumper blowing the Nuggets offense, Porter hitting a three-pointer, Jeff Green countering with a dunk, and then connecting with Brown for a layup. A wave of Nuggets stretched the deficit to double digits. In the decisive moment, Alexander and Jokic faced each other, and after Dort's three-pointer, Murray responded with a three-pointer. After that, the Thunder side directly replaced the main force, disarmed and surrendered, it seems that the manager does not want to compete for the last 1 minute or so. In the end, the Thunder lost 110-122 at home to the Nuggets, and the Thunder ended a four-game winning streak.
Stats, on the Nuggets' side, Jokic had 15 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists and 9 turnovers, Gordon 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Murray 24 points and 4 rebounds, Bruce Brown 15 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, Porter 11 points and 6 rebounds, Pope 11 points and 3 rebounds. For the Thunder, Alexander had 37 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, 10 points and 7 rebounds, Keady 16 points and 5 assists, and Dort 19 points and 3 rebounds.
First of all, Jokic's desire to attack today is not high, many times he has singles opportunities under the basket, and finally chooses to pass, the fat man's way to drive the team, is to reduce his own consumption as much as possible. Counting the data of today's game, Jokic has scored a triple-double 79 times in his career, and has reached the top of the NBA all-time center triple-double! Secondly, Gordon's hand feels too good, how to shoot when iron, when it is accurate, the opponent can't defend it. After Gordon broke out early to set the tone, like the Nets double Jay Brown + Green, the two became substitute engines in the absence of Hyland and played very well. Pope's balanced performance on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends relieved a lot of pressure on Murray and Porter. After this game, the Nuggets are 5-3 into the top six in the West, and the Thunder are now 4-4 and want to chase the Rockets (1-8), there is still a long way to go.