After letting a late lead slip in Game 1, the Thunder didn’t mess around in Game 2.
The Thunder crushed the Nuggets 149-106 Wednesday night in Oklahoma City to even the second-round series.
Let’s get to the grades:
Thunder first quarter: A+
The Thunder outscored the Nuggets 45-21 in the first quarter. The 45 points — a Thunder playoff record for points in a quarter — came on 71% shooting. OKC was also 10-of-10 from the foul line in the first quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (13) and Lu Dort (10) — whom Sam Presti once dubbed as the Molson Twins — outscored Denver on their own in the first quarter.
All five Thunder starters scored at least four points in the quarter.
— Joe Mussatto
The Thunder big man had a tough go of it in Game 1. Well, that’s probably being kind. He was bad.
But Hartenstein was much better in Game 2. He scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing five assists. He’s such a key cog in the flow of the offense that after having only one assist on Monday, his role Wednesday was much closer to what the Thunder needs.
On the defensive end, Hartenstein didn’t get bulldozed by Nikola Jokic like he did in Game 1. Hartenstein wasn’t perfect but largely held his own and even had a block.
— Jenni Carlson
Thunder Nation is done with the Russell Westbrook adoration — at least for now.
After giving the Thunder legend a huge ovation the first time he entered the game Monday, he appears to have become persona non grata. He was booed regularly Wednesday. Make a basket. Boo! Go to the free-throw line. Boo! Get into a little dust-up. Boo!
Maybe it was because he had a bigger-than-expected impact in Game 1, scoring 18 points and assisting on Aaron Gordon’s game-winner. But Westbrook didn’t seem affected by the Oklahoma City faithful turning on him in Game 2; he scored a team-high 19 points.
Here’s the thing, though, Thunder fans: It’s a bit goofy to show the guy so much love one day, then boo him so loudly the next. Makes one seem very disingenuous, and it feels like the boos fall into that category.
— Jenni Carlson
Keeping Denver off the offensive glass: B
The Nuggets grabbed 21 offensive rebounds in Game 1. Twenty-one!
In Game 2? Thirteen offensive rebounds for the Nuggets — a couple of which came in garbage time.
Improvement.
The Thunder outrebounded the Nuggets 52-51.
— Joe Mussatto
Aaron Wiggins: A
Have yourself a second quarter, Aaron Wiggins.
He picked off a Jamal Murray pass and finished off the steal with a breakaway slam. Thirty seconds later, another Wiggins dunk. Lu Dort missed a 3-pointer and Wiggins leapt for the put-back slam.
Wiggins played all but 37 seconds of the second quarter. He had a team-high 10 points in the quarter on 4-of-7 shooting — two 3-pointers and the two dunks.
— Joe Mussatto
Michael Porter Jr.: D-
Michael Porter Jr. is playing through what seems to be a pretty serious injury to his non-shooting shoulder. So credit to him for toughing it out.
But the results have been putrid.
Porter was 2-of-10 in Game 2 and is now 3-of-18 for the series — 2-of-11 from 3-point range.
The Nuggets still managed to shoot 41% from 3-point range. The Thunder was 44% from three.
— Joe Mussatto
Scott Foster: B
The NBA referee was the head of the crew Wednesday night, and that meant he was on the mic when a challenge was initiated or ruled on. Now, Foster is no Bill Kennedy on the replays, but Foster was humorous in its delivery.
In the second half, for instance, when Thunder big man Jaylin Williams took a forearm to the face, the officiating crew wanted to look at the play to see if a flagrant foul might’ve occurred. Foster said that “while the contact was unfortunate,” there was no flagrant foul.
Unfortunate?
Williams, who took a bloody nose and needed some cotton stuck up one nostril, might say it was more than that.
— Jenni Carlson
Guarding Christian Braun: A
A lot of attention has been paid and will be paid to how the Thunder is guarding Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, and rightful so. Those are the Nuggets’ big three.
But sharpshooter Christian Braun can get hot, and the Thunder hasn’t let that happen in this series.
In Game 1, he scored only 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, and in Game 2, he was even less of an offensive factor. He scored just three points on 1-of-6 shooting. What’s more, in the two games, he’s been 1-of-4 from behind the arc.
Quite a step down from the 39.7% that he shot from deep during the regular season.
— Jenni Carlson