Denver (AP) The Denver Nuggets knew that bouncing their loss of 43 points would mean suspended with the thunder of Oklahoma City charged by the Tubro, so that they can exploit their experience, its family environment and feats of fence.
And that’s exactly how they won the match 3 Friday evening, beating the Thunder 113-104 in overtime behind 27 points by Jamal Murray, 22 years from Aaron Gordon and 21 from Michael Porter Jr. to one weapon, who had his best match since he made the left shoulder training in the first qualifying match.
As in match 1, which they stole the 3-point pointer from Gordon at the end, the Nuggets dragged most of the night and led by two regulatory points before taking place 11-2 in the additional period when the high-flying Thunder collected only one of their nine possessions.
“I believe that late in matches, you can count on what you saw and felt and done,” said acting coach David Adelson about Nuggets, who are withdrawn from a NBA title from two years.
The Nuggets took a 2-1 lead in the semi-final series of the West Conference despite a night of Nikola Jokic, which had eight reversals and missed 17 of the 25 shots, including 10 of his 3 points. He finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.
“I mean, 20, 16 and six, what a horrible NBA night,” said Adelman.
“I’m sure he’s frustrated,” added Adelman, “when you are so effective, maybe probably one of the most effective players to have ever played any sport. Yes, I understand. I understand why he is frustrated. But the match 4 will come and that he will touch him a million times.
Match 4 is on Sunday in Ball Arena.
Jokic started the overtime flower with a fingertip lay-up and the nuggets have never been dragged again.
“It is obviously ugly to lose,” said Thunder’s coach Mark Daigneault. “But you can remove a lot, and we want to be a team that improves through the series. … I thought we had done a lot of good things – did a lot of good things on (Jokic). It was a very difficult game by the two teams. It was not an easy game for anyone.”
The other NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, also had a difficult night, missing 15 of the 22 shots, going 1 for 6 of Deep and ending with 18 points. Jalen Williams led OKC with 32 points and Chet Holmgren eneched 18.
It was equal to 102 after the regulation, and Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic missed the potential winners in the last seconds of the regulations. SGA missed a 12 -foot rider with 3 seconds to play, and Joker missed 19 feet in the buzzer.
“The losses are still stinging, especially in the playoffs,” said Daigneault. “But what I would say is that we are becoming an excellent team, and we have checked a lot of boxes in this process. One thing you need to be a big team is that you are taken on the edge of the playoffs, and you have an increase in the challenges you are confronted with.”
—
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Copyright 2025 Stats LLC and Associated Press. Any use or commercial distribution without the express written consent of Statts LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
