With 5 minutes left in the third quarter of Game 5 in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, the Denver Nuggets led the Oklahoma City Thunder 80-68, their largest lead of the series. By the end of the period, OKC had cut the deficit to 8, but with just over 10 minutes to go in the game, the Nuggets were on top 90-81. An 11-2 run by the Thunder tied it up at 92-92 with 5:42 to play, setting up a wild finish in the most pivotal game of the series.
Denver managed to retake the lead, but OKC continued to fight back, tying it up multiple times before taking a 98-96 lead with 3:33 to play. It was the Nuggets’ turn to tie the game, and they did so three more times before the Thunder hit back-to-back threes—one by Jalen Williams and a dagger by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, before finishing strong for the 112-105 victory. Now, OKC has a chance to close out the series in Denver in Game 6.
Fought back in the fourth quarter 😤 pic.twitter.com/OXv82qzVqR
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 14, 2025
Both of the Thunder’s losses in the series have been a result of an inability to close out games, but Games 4 and 5 showed a sign of a lesson learned, as they eked out close wins to take their first lead in the series. Denver’s lack of depth has to be part of the problem for the Nuggets, as Nikola Jokic was the only consistent offensive weapon down the stretch on Tuesday night. Denver is going to need a strong defensive performance and some scoring help from perhaps an unlikely source to even the series back up, but OKC has other plans.
The Thunder shot the ball well late in Game 5, and that flipped the script from the previous two games, where they could not buy a bucket for chunks at a time. If OKC can just shoot their season averages, they should be able to lock in defensively enough to slow Denver down, pull out the win, and head home to get ready for the Western Conference Finals.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7:30 PM CT
Location: Ball Arena (Denver, Colorado)
Television: ESPN
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.
- Hunter Tyson (sprained right ankle) 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 6-3 in the Playoffs (5-1 at home, 2-2 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).
- OKC leads Denver 3-2 in the Western Conference Semifinals (2-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).