The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a shocking Game 1 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, and now the #1 team in the Western Conference is in a tough spot. Trailing 0-1 in the series, the Thunder now has to win at least one game on the road to take the series, but before they can worry about trying to pick up a win in Denver, they need to take care of business in Game 2.
The Thunder had plenty of mishaps in the final minutes of the 121-119 loss in Game 1, but perhaps the biggest issue was rebounding. The Nuggets pulled down 20 more rebounds than the Thunder. 21 of Denver’s 61 rebounds came on the offensive end, which led to 27 second-chance points. Add to it that OKC knocked down just 12-of-44 attempts from downtown, and it didn’t even matter that the Thunder managed to score 23 points off 18 Denver turnovers.
A lot went wrong for OKC late in Game 1, just for them to lose on a last-second shot by Aaron Gordon. Expect some adjustments to be made by both squads, but the Thunder knows how high the stakes are in this one, so expect them to execute better down the stretch in what should be another fun battle.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: TNT
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live tweets and discussion during the game
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Denver Nuggets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Jalen Williams
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Nuggets
- PG: Jamal Murray
- SG: Christian Braun
- SF: Michael Porter Jr.
- PF: Aaron Gordon
- C: Nikola Jokic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Nikola Topic (left knee surgery) is OUT.
Nuggets
- DaRon Holmes (right Achilles tendon repair) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 30-35 against the Nuggets in the regular season (18-16 at home, 12-19 on the road) and 4-2 in the Playoffs (3-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series with the Nuggets 7 times, lost it 8 times, and tied it twice.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Nuggets in the regular season (1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).