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Nuggets Nation in Happy Shock After Game 1 Win Over OKC Thunder

Everything went wrong for Denver...until it didn't.
May 6, 2025
Image: The Denver Nuggets' Aaron Gordon was all smiles after hitting the game winner over the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 5.
The Denver Nuggets' Aaron Gordon was all smiles after hitting the game winner over the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 5. TNT/Photo by Michael Roberts
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Fans of the Denver Nuggets were left with an important question after the team's 121-119 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the opening contest of the second-round playoffs series on May 5:

How the hell did that just happen?

For most of the Cinco De Mayo matchup, the Nugs were Stinko De Mayo. They appeared to be several steps slower, considerably less athletic and lacking the energy of the young and gifted Thunder, fronted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who will almost certainly collect the 2024-2025 season's Most Valuable Player award over Denver's Nikola Jokić, if only because voters have grown tired of rewarding the Joker year after year. (He's already won the bauble three times.)

Frankly, the Nuggets spent most of the evening seeming gassed, which made sense given that they'd dispatched the Los Angeles Clippers in the deciding game of round one fewer than 48 hours earlier; a loss at the Paycom Center in OKC, where almost every attendee was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Thunder colors, would have been understandable. After all, Oklahoma City earned home court advantage for notching the NBA's best regular season record (68-14), and of the dozen ESPN experts asked to predict the series winner, exactly twelve of them selected SGA and company.

No wonder that after Aaron Gordon splashed a victory-guaranteeing three-pointer with seconds remaining on the clock (his second winning bucket of the post-season, following a buzzer-beating dunk versus the Clip Show), most members of Nuggets Nation on social media reacted as if they'd just experienced a sharp blow to the head of the sort that Jokić delivered to the Thunder's Lu Dort in the deciding fourth quarter — although they felt much better afterward.

Yes, the Nuggets got off to an early lead against the Thunder thanks largely to Jamal Murray, who came out with a scoring mindset. But his hot start cooled off quickly, and he got little help from most teammates not named Nikola. Michael Porter Jr. was so invisible from an offensive perspective that he could have triggered a search party (he ended with just two points), Christian Braun couldn't hit a dart board the size of a billboard (most of his eleven points came late), and bench contributors Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther, who surprisingly was given some floor-time during the first half before being returned to his usual spot on the bench, contributed three points and two points, respectively. The only backup who registered at all was Russell Westbrook, who marked his return to Oklahoma City, where he'd spent a hefty chunk of his career, with eighteen points amid the sort of excellent/awful play that's become his trademark.

The contrast with the Thunder's ultra-deep squad couldn't have been sharper. Every Thunder starter wound up in double figures, paced by SGA's 33 points, and four supporting-cast members landed in the scoring column, led by Alex Caruso, whose twenty points were dominated by triples that he kept dropping whenever they'd hurt Denver the most.

This balanced attack helped OKC erase Denver's early advantage by the end of the first quarter, which concluded with the Thunder ahead by one, and the gap extended to double digits, 60-50, at halftime. The Nuggets were able to remain in contact with the Thunder, and by the end of the third, they'd whittled away their deficit from a fourteen-point bulge to five, 90-85. But the wear and tear on Jokić, who ended with 42 points and an astonishing 22 rebounds, and Murray, who put up 21 thanks to his decision to let himself be repeatedly fouled on drives rather than clank more flings from long distance, was obvious. Both of them could easily have collapsed in the final stanza.

But somehow, they didn't. The game devolved into a slugfest that saw Denver shrink the lead to one point with 10.1 seconds remaining. Shortly thereafter, Chet Holmgren, who'd been fouled to stop the clock, missed two consecutive free throws, allowing the Nuggets one last shot. And Gordon, who set up beyond the arc, canned it. Every one of AG's 22 points was vital, but the last three felt historic.

There's no telling what all of this means for Denver's upset chances, but for Nuggets loyalists, it was the sweetest sort of payback — and it transformed a considerable number of doubters into believers. Count down the twenty memorable takes on X below to see what we mean:

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Image: Michael Roberts
Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.
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