Nuggets vs. Thunder Game 7: Oklahoma City’s defense, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander overwhelm Denver, take series

Oklahoma City has the likely MVP on its roster, but all season long its calling card was its defense — getting stops and turning those into transition offense fueled a 68-win regular season.

It also led to a Game 7 win against Denver — particularly in an 18-5 run to end the first half, which changed the game.

That run had the Nuggets up by 14 at the half, a lead that stretched to 23 just a minute-and-a-half into the second half. It was all Thunder the rest of the way — they had a 93.9 defensive rating for the day — and by 9:12 in the fourth quarter it was a 30-point game and Nuggets interim coach David Adelman emptied his bench.

In the end it was a 125-93 OKC win that puts the Thunder through to the Western Conference Finals, taking the series 4-3. Minnesota will be in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night to open the West finals.

This series and this Game 7 took the Thunder from a team with potential to one that looks the part of a champion.

“We’re better now than we were at the beginning of the series, and it’s because of them,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “[Denver] pushed us to the limit.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked like an MVP Sunday with 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting Sunday, but what won the game was the Thunder’s role players stepping up:

• Jalen Williams scored 24 points with seven assists.

• Alex Caruso did a brilliant job as the primary defender on Nikola Jokic, harassing the two-time MVP into a human night (20 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists) while scoring 11 points himself.

• Chet Holmgren had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Those points didn’t come because the Thunder were bombing away from 3 — they shot 30.8% on the night — but in the paint, where the Thunder scored 64 points before both coaches emptied their benches. It took seven games, but the Thunder finally figured out how to score against the Nuggets’ zone defense, by getting the ball to a player at the free throw line and having a strong finisher cutting out of the dunker’s spot.

Denver looked the more comfortable team in the bright lights early, racing out to a 21-10 lead. Oklahoma City was pressing, missing 3s (they started 0-of-6) and aiming shots. The Nuggets have been here and done this, they got to the rim and with that got eight early free throws.

Aaron Gordon played through a strained hamstring and gave it everything he had, finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds, but he moved slowly all night and was a shell of himself.

“What he played with today, I don’t know many people that would even attempt to go out there and run up and down,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “And he did it in Game 7 against Oklahoma City on the road. That that was one of most incredible things I’ve ever seen. He was extremely close to not playing. I was surprised.”

Christian Braun made plays and stepped up with 19 points, but after that, things fell off. Jamal Murray was 6-of-16 shooting in the face of defensive pressure from Lu Dort and Cason Wallace.

Denver led by five after one quarter, but to start the second Adelman sat both Jokic and Murray, and the result was a 6-0 Thunder run 1:02 that put Oklahoma City back in the lead.

It was close most of the second quarter until the 18-5 run at the end. Things just snowballed from there.

Denver now heads into an offseason without a formal head coach — although after this run and his performance, David Adelman should have the interim tag removed — and they need to find a new general manager. That person will walk a fine line, trying to find a way to get more around Nikola Jokic while he’s in his prime — more shooting, more athleticism, more depth — and doing so while not spending deep into the luxury tax.