Game two was not what the Denver Nuggets wanted in their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After stealing game one in OKC, the Nuggets put up a woeful performance in game two on the way to getting blown out massively by the top seed. Nikola Jokic fouled out before the end of the third quarter, Jamal Murray was wholly ineffective and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had no trouble getting whatever he wanted on offense. Despite the terrible game though, the Nuggets still have homecourt advantage in the series thanks to their game one win and a win tonight put’s them in the driver’s seat for the second half of the series.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (1-1) at Oklahoma City Thunder (1-1)
When: 8:00PM MDT
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs sails only on ethical seas…in a yacht…called the S.S. Big Honey. TNT, TruTV, Max, Altitude Radio 92.5FM.
Rival blog: Thunderous Intentions
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Clippers | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Thunder |
| SG | Christian Braun | Luguentz Dort | Even |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Jalen Williams | Even |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Chet Holmgren | Even |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Isaiah Hartenstein | Nuggets |
| Bench | Russell Westbrook, Peyton Watson, DeAndre Jordan, Jalen Pickett | Alex Caruso, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace | Thunder |
Injury report: DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles); Nikola Topic – out (knee)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: A Murray game
Murray has typically been a guy who starts to figure teams out later in a series. Against the Los Angeles Clippers in game five, he exploded for forty-three points. It’s a brutal matchup for him given the Thunder can throw both Alex Caruso and Lu Dort at him and essentially feel confident that he will be contained every minute he’s on the floor, but Jamal is also one of the best playoff performers we’ve ever seen. Hopefully he sees the opportunity in front of Denver in these two games at home and helps push them towards closing out the series by having a pair of big games at Ball Arena.
The thing to remember: OKC hasn’t been to Denver since November
The Nuggets and Thunder split the two games in the regular season that happened in Denver. One was opening night, a big Thunder win, and the other was seven games later where Denver won late with Peyton Watson blocking SGA’s buzzer beating attempt. The Nuggets played that game without Aaron Gordon, the Thunder without Isaiah Hartenstein, and since then OKC has not had to come back to Denver. It’s always tough at altitude, particularly for the first game in a while, so don’t be shocked if the Thunder start sucking air a bit in the second half.
The thing to bet: Nuggets moneyline (+185)
The betting public is overreacting to game two making the nuggets a five-point dog at home in game three. Denver usually comes off a terrible game very strong, has the altitude advantage like I said and frankly isn’t nearly as bad as they looked in game two. I’m confident they win tonight, but even if you’re less confident you can just bet them to beat the +5.5 spread at -110.
