The Oklahoma City Thunder knocked off the Denver Nuggets in a tightly-contested battle on Saturday night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander knocked down a shot with under a second remaining on the clock, boosting the Thunder to a 118-117 win.
Playing on the road in Denver — which is particularly tough with the altitude — against the reigning champions, that was a gutty, signature win for the young Thunder, which is now the No. 2 seed in the west again.
After the big win, the Thunder got a bit of a compliment from Nuggets head coach Mike Malone. “You kind of see some of us in them,” Malone said after the game. “A young, promising team that is going through the building blocks of getting better. Going from a team that is trying to be a playoff team, and then trying to be a team that can advance in the playoffs and win at a high level in the playoffs.”
What’s important about this is that the young Thunder team will be able to go through these building blocks and hurdles together, constantly improving and understanding what it needs to get to the next level of competition. Having a star like Gilgeous-Alexander is incredibly beneficial, too, as he’s a self-aware player who sees the bigger picture.
“I know we wound up winning that game in OKC early in the year by a pretty big margin, but that was an anomaly. Every time we play this team, it seems like it’s a dogfight. It goes down to the wire,” Malone continued. “I think they have the NBA’s attention.
” This is similar to what Steve Kerr had to say about the Thunder, too. This Thunder squad is coming, and they’ve got no substantial expectations and nothing to lose, making them a tough team to play on a nightly basis.
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