Instant reaction from the Nuggets’ 112-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of their second-round NBA Playoffs series:
1. Will Jokic ever get a big call?: Fadeaway 3-pointer? It’s back. Tips to self? Also back. On the plus side, Nikola Jokic found his legs again. If only he could find a whistle. With six minutes left in a tie game, the Joker had taken 21 shots — and had gone to the line once. And that one foul shot came with 6:13 to go in the first quarter. OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows fouls to officials all the time. So, Jokic did the same with Jaylin Williams draped all over him with 3:47 left in the third quarter. As Williams clung to him the way a remora fish clings to the belly of a shark, the refs looked at the carnage — and immediately whistled Joker for a ticky-tack offensive foul. If the zebras were trying to send a message in this game, it must’ve been in Esperanto.
2. SGA’s weakness? A 2-3 zone: Who knew Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Kryptonite was a 2-3 zone? Nuggets interim coach David Adleman did, apparently. Somewhere, ex-Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim had to be proud, as the Nuggets used a popular (and basic) collegiate defense to render the best scorer in the NBA completely helpless on his home floor. While OKC fans looked on in stunned silence, SGA looked as if he’d never seen a zone before, perplexed by Denver’s looks while forcing shot after shot. The presumptive ’24-25 MVP put up a first-half stat line to forget: 4-of-11 shooting, 0 for 1 on treys, 11 points at the break. Even better, the Nuggets won the early non-Joker minutes of the second quarter, outscoring the hosts 8-7 without the Big Honey on the floor.
3. Rallying from the inside: Props to Adelman and his staff for a well-timed, um, timeout early on. The Thunder had raced out to a 12-2 lead, the Paycom Center was rocking (again), and you worried that this might turn into Game 2 Part II. But a funny thing happened on the way to oblivion — the Nuggets re-dedicated themselves to going inside to get buckets. And it worked. Denver made five straight shots inside the paint, turning a 10-point early deficit into a 16-14 lead. The Nuggets, who’d struggled to get looks down low in Games 1-4, led OKC in points in the paint 12-8 midway through the opening stanza. Context: Denver managed 20 points in the paint for the entire afternoon in Game 4 and 28 over the whole contest in Game 2.
