2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (DEN leads 1-0)

[Gordon]

Thunder had less turnovers and shot better from 3 and still lost. This series is going to be a lot closer then everyone expected. Chet and Hartenstein aint Zubac.

[BruttoNostra]

i mean the foul strategy isnt the problem but the execution was so horrendous.

Why are you fouling in the backcourt when they dont have any timeouts left with <12seconds to go? at least let them bring the ball up under pressure and run the clock down.

Why is SGA quickly dunking the ball and not running around and burning more time?

and why in the effin hell are you fouling when jokic is on the bench and they dont have any timeouts left? they should have abandoned fouling right away and forced denver to get a 3 point shot off without jokic on the floor.

Disagree about the SGA dunk. I think you take the guaranteed 2 points over burning a couple extra seconds off the clock. Everything else is spot on though. Crazy mismanagement to foul in the backcourt like that.

So many people focus on his dunk (and I agree it's better to get a sure 2p than gamble and risk to miss a FT a couple of seconds later) - I'm shocked nobody is talking about his decision making with the inbound 2.8sec left:

First, the lack of experience from the entire team is shown when instead of executing immediately they were shocked for a couple of seconds.
Then SGA inbounds the ball to J-Dubb who is almost at his own baseline with 3 Denver players on him instead of Dort who easily can cross the half court in time and launch a long three pointer with at least 10%-15% chance to go in instead of J-Dubb's heave that was what, 2% tops?
It's not what lost them the game, but it still was a very dumb decision, showing at least a lack of experience, if not even a BBIQ problem.

[BruttoNostra]

Read on Twitter

but...but...but... he doesn't even care about the game and only wants to go back to his horses

[BruttoNostra]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Jalen Williams acting cute and goofy after an embarrassing choke playoff loss at home in which he shot 5-20…this is after he completely **** the bed last year in the playoffs too.

This is the guy that many Thunder fans bizarrely say is “untouchable” even for talents like Giannis.

What a clown. It's one thing for some vet with a couple of rings to be tired of those question after 10+ years in the league (and even then it's still a douchebag answer), but for a young player with zero accomplishments, team and personal? Clown.
Imagine Jokic losing tonight and appearing like that. ESPN would send him to Serbia on a private jet with Perk as a pilot.

[HotRocks34]

[BigGargamel]

Well, can't say I've heard this one before.

[jc23]

Read on Twitter

He the center, the point guard, the best player, the rebounder, the horse guy, the coach...Hey Mon!

Watch on YouTube

[Shock Defeat]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Jalen Williams acting cute and goofy after an embarrassing choke playoff loss at home in which he shot 5-20…this is after he completely **** the bed last year in the playoffs too.

This is the guy that many Thunder fans bizarrely say is “untouchable” even for talents like Giannis.

What a clown. It's one thing for some vet with a couple of rings to be tired of those question after 10+ years in the league (and even then it's still a douchebag answer), but for a young player with zero accomplishments, team and personal? Clown.
Imagine Jokic losing tonight and appearing like that. ESPN would send him to Serbia on a private jet with Perk as a pilot.

Clowns. OKC isnt winning a ring with immaturity like that.

[BigGargamel]

As much as I want the Nuggets to win, they needed 42/22/6 from Jokic, a game winner 3 by AG and everything to go wrong for OKC down the stretch, including two missed FT by Chet, after being up 9 with 3 minutes left in he 4th.
Some of those wounds were self inflicted, bad decisions from players and the coach, and Denver to their credit kept their composure as the more veteran team and capitalized on those mistakes but this isn't as demoralizing a loss as some make it out to be.
I don't think OKC players are thinking "man they're too good for us, we're doomed". If anything they're just mad they gave one up and are eager to get back at them.

As a Denver fan, we never win any game, the other team always loses instead. Always funny to hear that take

I've been saying this on here for weeks. Denver's never actually "won" a playoff game, according to this board. One of the best teams in the NBA going on half a decade, and they still never get any respect.

[kingr]

aaron gordon saving legacies

[B-easy]

OKC should try the swarm tactic that clippers tried on Jokic. Play a single big (Chet) with 4 quick players and double.

[BigGargamel]

Spread for game 2 is -11.5. That's incredibly high after what we saw game 1.

In all honesty, not that surprising.

It’s basically job done on this road trip and they may pack up early if a desperate okc gets the jump on them (they need to).

Coming off a 7 game series vs a team on a sweep layover, books counting on Denver potentially resting some bodies I’d say.

Resting players and conceding a game in the second round of the playoffs like it's some random game in February. The takes, I can't deal with them. It's the playoffs.

[JM00n69]

EXPOSED

[MoneyTalks41890]

OKC should try the swarm tactic that clippers tried on Jokic. Play a single big (Chet) with 4 quick players and double.

They largely did.

Blocked Jokic like 5-6 times and he turned it over 7 times.

He’s just really good.

[Dadouv47]

OKC should try the swarm tactic that clippers tried on Jokic. Play a single big (Chet) with 4 quick players and double.

They largely did.

Blocked Jokic like 5-6 times and he turned it over 7 times.

He’s just really good.

we still played the double big line up too much (and Coach D changed his mind way too often about doing it or not).

Started second half with Caruso and 3-4 minutes after that Hartenstein went back...no clue why

[cupcakesnake]

I know he had that one great game in the series against the Clippers but I honestly didn't think he had "it" these playoffs.
Then he goes and gets 42/22/6
So I don't know anymore...

Zubac did a great job against him. He was specifically diligent in stopping him from rebounding his own misses. Jokic had just 2 o-boards in the final 3 games of that series. He immediately gets back to work against OKC, grabbing 5 last night.

OKC's game plan was pretty well executed though. They swarmed Jokic's passing angles (7 turnovers for 6 assists) and made him work. Jokic did WORK though, jeezus. He scrapped and fought for fouls, dominated the glass, and forced the issue. It was Russ and Aaron Gordon that tipped the scales in Denver's favor. 21 offensive boards is not ok, and half of those came from Gordon (7!) and Jokic. Braun had 4, and plenty of his and Gordon's came from the wing.

OKC really looked bad on offense. They missed a ton of open 3s. Chet and Isaiah Joe went 0-7. J.Dub went 2-9. The key boxscore stat to watch is the 3-point shooting of Chet and J.Dub. When those are falling, OKC is winning. They are not consistent night to night. J.Dub had a beautiful defensive game, but he'll be needed in this series to be a legit 2nd option to Shai.

Really great game. OKC's defense is terrifying and Denver is such a resilient, puzzle solving playoff team. Can't wait for this series.

[MoneyTalks41890]

My hot take here is that Shai actually had a really good game, it just wasn’t up to his standards.

8 assists to one turnover, good defense.

He needs help on offense and the young guns didn’t have it.

I still think OKC wins that without 7, too much went wrong for OKC that won’t continue to imo.

[Exp0sed]

as great as OKC is I was on the camp (and posted alot about it at the time) that was flabbergasted they didn't make another small move at the deadline to grab another good big. I specifically talked about the Nuggets matchup and OKC's plethora of assets.

they may percieve themselves as a dynasty but this is the NBA, it's asinine to miss out on an opportunity. they were healthy all year (for the most part) and they're 100% healthy coming into the playoffs. who knows, maybe a key guy gets injured next season? (god forbid), maybe an internal beef happens or them having to trade part of the core because of tax and apron implications

it would have cost them a fraction of their multitude of picks and assets to get another veteran big, that's actually been there before and could be used in particular matchups (mostly vs. Jokic but we can argue about the Wolves and other teams as well)

at the end of the day, Ihart and Chet are great but there can always be injuries, suspensions and like yesterday - foul trouble and then they are relegated to playing the big Nuggets frontcourt with Jokic in the center of it - with a small ball Center. even if it's for 5 or 10 mins, ultimately that could cost them a game and even a series

I didn't get why Presti didn't get another capable vet big, just in case. I thought he was wrong at the deadline and now it just looks stupid tbh

obviously they are still favored to go all the way, but the GM's job is to maximize that likelihood...

[Exp0sed]

My hot take here is that Shai actually had a really good game, it just wasn’t up to his standards.

8 assists to one turnover, good defense.

He needs help on offense and the young guns didn’t have it.

I still think OKC wins that without 7, too much went wrong for OKC that won’t continue to imo.

why wasn't it up to his standards? he had 10 rebs and 8 assists, both are well above his season avg and he scored at about his average at about his avg efficiency. he had a great game (which is a normal game by his standards), just lacked the leadership. didn't put the team on his back when it mattered, during that late game implosion but other than that a heck of a game

J-Dub and Chet missed shots they usually make and both had to expend alot of energy and focus on defending Jokic. not like the Nuggets played some great defense, the Thunder supporting cast missed very makeable shots, most of which were wide open

[JM00n69]

My hot take here is that Shai actually had a really good game, it just wasn’t up to his standards.

8 assists to one turnover, good defense.

He needs help on offense and the young guns didn’t have it.

I still think OKC wins that without 7, too much went wrong for OKC that won’t continue to imo.

why wasn't it up to his standards? he had 10 rebs and 8 assists, both are well above his season avg and he scored at about his average at about his avg efficiency. he had a great game (which is a normal game by his standards), just lacked the leadership. didn't put the team on his back when it mattered, during that late game implosion but other than that a heck of a game

J-Dub and Chet missed shots they usually make and both had to expend alot of energy and focus on defending Jokic. not like the Nuggets played some great defense, the Thunder supporting cast missed very makeable shots, most of which were wide open

Got to make some excuses why their team lost. I think this is the Denial faze of the 7 stages of greif.