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Nuggets Nation Reacts to Crushing Game 2 Loss to Thunder

The Nuggets' doom was sealed in the first half, when Oklahoma City scored almost 90 points.
May 8, 2025
Image: Nikola Jokic in post-game press conference after loss
Nikola Jokić deserved to feel exasperated after the Nuggets were crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 7. House of Highlights via YouTube
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Let no one say the Denver Nuggets aren't competitive.

We dubbed Denver's loss in game three of their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers "among the most embarrassing in Nuggets history" thanks to a 34-point margin of defeat following a narrow win in the first contest. But the Nugs clearly weren't satisfied with that gap. So after besting the Thunder at the outset of their second-round matchup versus the Oklahoma City Thunder via a last-second comeback, Nikola Jokić and his minions came up even smaller, falling to OKC by 43 points, 149-106, in their next visit to Paycom Arena on May 7.

And that's only one of the humiliations the Nuggets manifested on Wednesday night. En route to getting railed, they allowed the Thunder to put up 87 points in the first half — only four fewer than the New York Knicks managed in their 91-90 edging of the Boston Celtics over the course of the entire slugfest that immediately preceded the Denver-Oklahoma City game. That total established a new mark for most points in any half of a playoff game ever, exceeding the 86 points the Cleveland Cavaliers recorded in a June 2017 blow-out of the Golden State Warriors.

And the person who pushed the Thunder over the top was Chet Holmgren, whose two made free throws just before the intermission horn stood in ironic contrast to the pair he missed to give Denver a chance to notch its previous W.

The shame spiral developed early. The Nuggets sole lead of the evening was 2-0 owing to a Jamal Murray bucket that kicked off the scoring — and then nearly the entire OKC lineup answered back with alarming speed. A Lu Dort three. An alley-oop from former Nugget Isaiah Hartenstein. A Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dunk. Hartenstein from the mid-range. A Jalen Williams slam. Hartenstein again. And then a Holmgren three-pointer that doubled up the Nuggets 18-9, prompting a timeout from interim Denver coach David Adelman that attempted to stop the bleeding. But the arteries had already been slashed, and there wasn't a big enough tourniquet in the world capable of tying them off.

The strategy the Thunderous crewmates used to gain this advantage wasn't radically different from the one they deployed on Monday night — i.e., they packed the paint and groped Jokić as feverishly as a just-released prisoner given a certificate for a free lap dance at a local strip club while daring the rest of the Nuggets to make shots from outside. And for the most part, they didn't do so. Although Russell Westbrook flashed his usual energy and collected nineteen points, he mostly seemed interested in trying (and barely failing) to get the referees to eject him.

Michael Porter Jr. once again seemed all but incapable of finding the twine, essentially making him useless. (Yes, the eight points he canned quadrupled his two-point sum the last time around, but most of them came once the die had been cast, and cast, and cast again.) Likewise, Christian Braun seemed largely afraid to launch from distance, and for good reason: he connected on only a single bucket all night. Murray did slightly better, but his fourteen-point yield remained way too anemic. And freshly anointed hero Gordon barely reached double digits, with ten points, in part because his repeated attempts to muscle his way inside were met with enough blocks to supply LEGO for the next decade.

And Jokić? He became so frustrated by the lack of support that he transformed into the worst version of himself — taking ill-advised shots rather than smart ones (he was just six for sixteen from the field), forcing passes that quickly became turnovers (he was responsible for six), and losing his cool whenever he was grabbed, jabbed, prodded or poked (which happened constantly). It was easy to conclude that he fouled out with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter simply because he didn't want to wait for Adelman to clear the bench.

This was the worst-case scenario that pundits had predicted, but as the Clippers series indicated, it needn't be fatal. Note that after the aforementioned game two annihilation versus L.A., Denver came back to snatch three of the next five and win the series. Trouble is, OKC is a better, deeper team than L.A. — which means Denver needs to come back strong in the next two games at home (scheduled for Friday night and Sunday afternoon, respectively) to avoid being sent packing from the playoffs in ignominious fashion for the second consecutive year.

The following twenty posts on X were shared during the fourth quarter last night — because there was no need to wait for the final whistle to begin the post-mortem. But the final two offer at least a modicum of hope. See what we mean below.

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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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