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Nikola Jokic didn’t seem to feel the arm, but Russell Westbrook did.
A mere shove to Jokic’s back, absorbed by his rotund frame, which Jaylin Williams used as his most vocal stance. A one-armed way of declaring that neither Williams nor the Thunder would scoot over for the three-time MVP as often as they had in Game 1.
Westbrook boiled over at the sight of it. At the audacity of the opposition to place five fingers in Jokic’s vicinity. To dictate Wednesday’s tone instead of speaking Jokic’s language. It left Westbrook irate, approaching Williams with words and mutual disregard for personal space, which resulted in Westbrook’s technical foul. Williams met his chest with five fingers, too.
The former Thunder guard felt what many in the building had felt. Oklahoma City wasn’t just refusing to budge. It unseated Denver entirely.
“You can’t get punked the first six minutes,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said after the Thunder’s commanding 149-106 Game 2 win.
MUSSATTO: Thunder did what Celtics and Cavaliers failed to do in NBA Playoffs. Win Game 2.
Wednesday’s most fervid battle, the frontcourt vs. Jokic, was a window into the Thunder’s early punches and wire-to-wire domination. Williams and Jokic batted each other’s rib cages, they swam inside each other’s grasp, they flailed and vied for position.
Williams held Jokic to 1-of-4 shooting in their matchup, and the Nuggets star finished with 17 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-16 shooting. Once OKC knew it could topple Denver’s king, the other pieces fell with him.
Seven of the Thunder’s 26 fastbreak points came in the first quarter; the Nuggets had zero transition opportunities then and five points off them through the entire game. Sixteen of the Thunder’s 52 paint points came then, too; Denver had 28 of them on 36 shots Wednesday. OKC outrebounded Denver 36-26 through three quarters, when it held a 31-point lead. Its 149 points were a franchise playoff record, ending with shooting splits of 57.5%/45.7%/91.2%.
“Basically it was one team playing tonight,” Jokic said.
Every hole left agape in Game 1 was boarded up like vacant housing.
“We knew what was at stake tonight,” MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We came out desperate.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s first quarter reeked of urgency. Not that it had ever necessarily dissipated, though his impact had most been felt in Game 1 through his potential assists. But he gripped Game 2 by the collar.
He scored 13 of his 34 points (which came in three quarters, like old times) in the first 12 minutes. He missed just two of his 13 attempts all night. He drilled all 11 of his free throws. Gilgeous-Alexander somehow seemed to be both operating like an android and as liberated as ever.
Advantages were in abundance with the ball in his hands. He finished as a plus-51, the highest plus-minus in the play-by-play era.
“When you see how desperate he is to win the game, it almost drags you along with (him),” said Jalen Williams, who bounced back with a 17-point, seven-assist performance.
CARLSON: How Jaylin Williams foiled Nikola Jokic and set tone for Thunder rout vs Nuggets in Game 2
The plays that felt like an avalanche piled. With 6:07 left in the second quarter, Jokic reached for an entry pass he must’ve sensed would be one of his cleanest yet. Aaron Wiggins snuck behind him to poke away the clumsy toss from his grasp. Jokic stood flustered in place, running his fingers through his buzz cut.
In the next minute, Wiggins skied for a putback jam and Gilgeous-Alexander sank a stepback 3.
Through two games, Jokic has more turnovers than assists, 13 to 12. On Wednesday, he seemed increasingly upset at the lack of control he felt compared to the series opener.
As his fouls tallied, his death glares and exasperated reactions with them, Jokic seemed to dismiss any mission he had to toe Wednesday’s line of regulated physicality.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Thunder guard Lu Dort loaded a catch-and-shoot 3, and upon landing, Jokic’s forearm lifted and floored him (with a likely hint of contact sold by Dort). Seconds later, Jaylin Williams returned to duel Jokic for position, and Jokic reached for a piggyback ride and his fifth foul.
Thirty seconds later, Dort drew an offensive foul on a play officials ruled an illegal screen, Jokic’s sixth foul. The big man was disqualified before the fourth quarter ever began.
“They’re calling the second foul almost every time,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said of Jokic. “They’re fouling Joker first, and then Joker is reactionary, and they do get the second guy a lot of the time. But they’re fouling him. Point blank. Period.”
5 TAKEAWAYS: OKC Thunder demolishes Nuggets in worst night of Nikola Jokic's career
Jokic exited the game with five free-throw attempts after attempting as many as 10 in the fourth quarter of Game 1 alone.
“I think the main thing with us this game, we were more disciplined,” Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein said. “Think we followed the game plan a lot better than maybe the first game. I mean, with the reps, you just kind of have to see how the game is called each game, and you have to adjust to it.
“We never want to be controlled by the refs. So I think that's the biggest thing. You just kind of have to adjust to how the game is being called and just go from there.”
The war where Jokic stands is far from over, as are the Western Conference semifinals. But Oklahoma City sent Denver's troops back at least a few yards, its 285-pound tank along with it.
The Thunder's early punch was a reminder of who it'd been, not a revelation. The team that's evoked comments from opposing coaches about its physicality. The one that willingly engaged in multiple skirmishes with a team as perilous as the Houston Rockets.
Gilgeous-Alexander didn't feel punked on Monday, nor did he feel the need to go to extreme lengths to enact the feeling on Denver. The shoving, the battling, the smiles in the face of havoc from someone as jovial as Jaylin Williams, the refusal to move. It's all in their file already.
“I didn’t really look at tonight as a response as much as I looked at tonight as just us being who we are,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s how we’ve been all season. When we win, we don’t have more confidence. When we lose, we don’t have more urgency."
More: OKC Thunder sets NBA playoff record with blistering scoring half vs Nuggets in Game 2
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder 'came out desperate' to fuel Game 2 rout vs Denver Nuggets
Continue reading...
A mere shove to Jokic’s back, absorbed by his rotund frame, which Jaylin Williams used as his most vocal stance. A one-armed way of declaring that neither Williams nor the Thunder would scoot over for the three-time MVP as often as they had in Game 1.
Westbrook boiled over at the sight of it. At the audacity of the opposition to place five fingers in Jokic’s vicinity. To dictate Wednesday’s tone instead of speaking Jokic’s language. It left Westbrook irate, approaching Williams with words and mutual disregard for personal space, which resulted in Westbrook’s technical foul. Williams met his chest with five fingers, too.
The former Thunder guard felt what many in the building had felt. Oklahoma City wasn’t just refusing to budge. It unseated Denver entirely.
“You can’t get punked the first six minutes,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said after the Thunder’s commanding 149-106 Game 2 win.
MUSSATTO: Thunder did what Celtics and Cavaliers failed to do in NBA Playoffs. Win Game 2.
Wednesday’s most fervid battle, the frontcourt vs. Jokic, was a window into the Thunder’s early punches and wire-to-wire domination. Williams and Jokic batted each other’s rib cages, they swam inside each other’s grasp, they flailed and vied for position.
Williams held Jokic to 1-of-4 shooting in their matchup, and the Nuggets star finished with 17 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-16 shooting. Once OKC knew it could topple Denver’s king, the other pieces fell with him.
Seven of the Thunder’s 26 fastbreak points came in the first quarter; the Nuggets had zero transition opportunities then and five points off them through the entire game. Sixteen of the Thunder’s 52 paint points came then, too; Denver had 28 of them on 36 shots Wednesday. OKC outrebounded Denver 36-26 through three quarters, when it held a 31-point lead. Its 149 points were a franchise playoff record, ending with shooting splits of 57.5%/45.7%/91.2%.
“Basically it was one team playing tonight,” Jokic said.
Every hole left agape in Game 1 was boarded up like vacant housing.
“We knew what was at stake tonight,” MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We came out desperate.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s first quarter reeked of urgency. Not that it had ever necessarily dissipated, though his impact had most been felt in Game 1 through his potential assists. But he gripped Game 2 by the collar.
He scored 13 of his 34 points (which came in three quarters, like old times) in the first 12 minutes. He missed just two of his 13 attempts all night. He drilled all 11 of his free throws. Gilgeous-Alexander somehow seemed to be both operating like an android and as liberated as ever.
Advantages were in abundance with the ball in his hands. He finished as a plus-51, the highest plus-minus in the play-by-play era.
“When you see how desperate he is to win the game, it almost drags you along with (him),” said Jalen Williams, who bounced back with a 17-point, seven-assist performance.
CARLSON: How Jaylin Williams foiled Nikola Jokic and set tone for Thunder rout vs Nuggets in Game 2
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The plays that felt like an avalanche piled. With 6:07 left in the second quarter, Jokic reached for an entry pass he must’ve sensed would be one of his cleanest yet. Aaron Wiggins snuck behind him to poke away the clumsy toss from his grasp. Jokic stood flustered in place, running his fingers through his buzz cut.
In the next minute, Wiggins skied for a putback jam and Gilgeous-Alexander sank a stepback 3.
Through two games, Jokic has more turnovers than assists, 13 to 12. On Wednesday, he seemed increasingly upset at the lack of control he felt compared to the series opener.
As his fouls tallied, his death glares and exasperated reactions with them, Jokic seemed to dismiss any mission he had to toe Wednesday’s line of regulated physicality.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Thunder guard Lu Dort loaded a catch-and-shoot 3, and upon landing, Jokic’s forearm lifted and floored him (with a likely hint of contact sold by Dort). Seconds later, Jaylin Williams returned to duel Jokic for position, and Jokic reached for a piggyback ride and his fifth foul.
Thirty seconds later, Dort drew an offensive foul on a play officials ruled an illegal screen, Jokic’s sixth foul. The big man was disqualified before the fourth quarter ever began.
“They’re calling the second foul almost every time,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said of Jokic. “They’re fouling Joker first, and then Joker is reactionary, and they do get the second guy a lot of the time. But they’re fouling him. Point blank. Period.”
5 TAKEAWAYS: OKC Thunder demolishes Nuggets in worst night of Nikola Jokic's career
You must be registered for see images
Jokic exited the game with five free-throw attempts after attempting as many as 10 in the fourth quarter of Game 1 alone.
“I think the main thing with us this game, we were more disciplined,” Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein said. “Think we followed the game plan a lot better than maybe the first game. I mean, with the reps, you just kind of have to see how the game is called each game, and you have to adjust to it.
“We never want to be controlled by the refs. So I think that's the biggest thing. You just kind of have to adjust to how the game is being called and just go from there.”
The war where Jokic stands is far from over, as are the Western Conference semifinals. But Oklahoma City sent Denver's troops back at least a few yards, its 285-pound tank along with it.
The Thunder's early punch was a reminder of who it'd been, not a revelation. The team that's evoked comments from opposing coaches about its physicality. The one that willingly engaged in multiple skirmishes with a team as perilous as the Houston Rockets.
Gilgeous-Alexander didn't feel punked on Monday, nor did he feel the need to go to extreme lengths to enact the feeling on Denver. The shoving, the battling, the smiles in the face of havoc from someone as jovial as Jaylin Williams, the refusal to move. It's all in their file already.
“I didn’t really look at tonight as a response as much as I looked at tonight as just us being who we are,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s how we’ve been all season. When we win, we don’t have more confidence. When we lose, we don’t have more urgency."
More: OKC Thunder sets NBA playoff record with blistering scoring half vs Nuggets in Game 2
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder 'came out desperate' to fuel Game 2 rout vs Denver Nuggets
Continue reading...
