Nuggets get blown out of Ball Arena by possible playoff foe OKC

DENVER—2023 was quite literally a banner year for the Denver Nuggets, winning their first-ever title and adding hardware to the Ball Arena trophy case.

Everyone will remember the highlight of 2023, beating the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to capture the championship. Many won’t recall how the year began, with a 123-11 New Year’s Day win against the formidable Boston Celtics but almost nobody will want to recollect how the calendar year ended—a 119-96 drubbing by the up-and-coming Oklahoma City Thunder.

Reigning NBA First Team guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 40 points, as Rookie of the Year hopeful center Chet Holmgren added 24 points all the while Lu Dort and the defense kept Jamal Murray to 4-of-15 shooting and forced seven Nikola Jokic turnovers.

“Just internally we got to be a little better, the other team was playing hard as hell,” Muray said. “We’re a great team and we normally figure it out… I just felt like we beat ourselves tonight. And then on top of that, they they beat us as well. So it was like a twofold, we didn’t do as good then we were only able to do the necessary things to get back in the game even when we tried.”

The Thunder flat-out beat the Nuggets, outrebounding them 51-36 and beating them 17-12 on turnover count. It wasn’t even as though OKC got hot, only shooting 34% from three, they just flat-out pounded a Nuggets team that wanted to beat themselves.

“That’s what they do—they lead the league in points off turnovers and they have 25 points off of our mistakes,” Michael Malone said. “We just didn’t have the proper energy tonight.”

A stark contrast from a night ago when the Nuggets cruised passed a middling Memphis squad, Denver has now lost twice at home to the Thunder in a few weeks’ time. The first was a fourth-quarter collapse and buzzer beater from SGA, the second a BEAT EM DOWN led by the Canadian guard.

“That team that we went out there and showed tonight, that wasn’t the team that’s played the last 10 games,” Malone said. “Maybe it’s fatigue. I’m not sure but you know, it makes it really hard to play against a team that is very talented if you’re not giving this great effort.”

So the Nuggets’ hot streak will have to be adjusted from winners of 9-of-10 to they’ve won nine straight games against all teams but the Thunder. OKC jumpDenverer in the standings, to get to second in the west. They’ll have one more battle on the road with the Thunder, a team they’re now 1-2 against.

“We have them one more time, really weird, we beat them the first time in OKC by 30 points,” Malone said. “They beat us here in a really close game, and then tonight was their blowout. And the truth is somewhere in between, I guess. But we just didn’t have it tonight. You know, and that’s just gonna happen at times I guess.”

2022 ended with a Nuggets win against their final playoff matchup in the Heat, maybe it’s a bad omen that Denver ends 2023 with a loss to a team they’ll likely see in the postseason. Or maybe it was just a back-to-back against a hot Thunder team with a lot to prove in the regular season.

Denver is back on New Year’s Day against the Hornets, maybe 2024 can be just as sweet as 2023 even with a sour last taste.