Thunder claps Nuggets by 43 to level series

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 149-106 home blowout of the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference semifinal series on Wednesday.

The Thunder, which set a franchise single-game playoff scoring record, tied the best-of-seven series 1-1 ahead of Game 3 in Denver on Friday.

"We knew what was at stake tonight," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We came out desperate."

After losing on a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of Game 1, the Thunder made sure the Nuggets wouldn't have a chance to pull off another late shocker. Oklahoma City poured it on early, scoring 45 first-quarter points and stretching the lead to 24 just over 10 minutes into the game.

The Thunder tied the NBA playoff record for points in a half with 87, leading by as many as 35 before the intermission. The only other team to score 87 points in a half during the postseason was the Milwaukee Bucks in the second half of a secondround game in 1978 — again against the Nuggets.

"I didn't really look at tonight as a response, as much as I looked at tonight as just us being who we are, and that's how we've been all season," Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. "We don't really respond to the last game. When we win, we don't have more confidence. When we lose, we don't have more urgency."

Oklahoma City didn't let up in the third quarter, stretching the advantage to 48 points heading into the fourth.

By that time, Denver star Nikola Jokic had fouled out, and the only question was how big the margin would be.

With Denver trailing by 41 points and just more than a minute remaining in the third quarter, Jokic was called for his second offensive foul in less than a minute to end his night.

After his 42-point, 22-rebound performance in Game 1, Jokic had just 17 points and eight rebounds in Game 2. He shot 6 of 16 from the field.

Gilgeous-Alexander had his night end soon after for another reason.

The Most Valuable Player favorite hit two free throws in the last second of the quarter, before taking a seat to watch the Thunder's bench handle the fourth.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished 11 of 13 from the floor and hit all 11 of his free throws. He added eight assists and finished plus-51 in plus/minus.

"He made them pay when they over-helped on him," Daigneault said of Gilgeous-Alexander.

Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams added 17 points, and Chet Holmgren, who missed a pair of critical free throws just before Aaron Gordon's Game 1 winner, finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Holmgren was 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.

Russell Westbrook led the Nuggets with 19 points, and Jamal Murray contributed 14. Gordon, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds in the series opener, finished with just 10 points (on 3-of-12 shooting) and five boards.

"We got punked," Denver interim coach David Adelman said. "They came out with the right intensity and we didn't.

"We aren't just going to flush this. We have to play better, and we know that."

Asked whether he considered pulling his starters earlier, Adelman said: "When I walked in the locker room (at halftime), I knew they wanted to go out and play. That's a lot of proud people in that room that want to go out there and compete."

REUTERS