OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Loud City is not Fraud City.<\/p>\n
Every Thunder had a basket Wednesday night, save for the Broncos mascot.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe got punked,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman admitted after the 149-106 drubbing.<\/a> \u201cWe are not going to flush that. We have to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n If the series opener was a referendum on the Thunder\u2019s inexperience<\/a>, Game 2 was validation of its season. Oklahoma City is equipped with stars and a bench deeper than a Tolstoy novel.<\/p>\n This is a team of spectacular opulence. So why, after demonstrated excellence, do they have such a punchable face?<\/p>\n Racing out to 87 points in the first half \u2013 the most ever in a playoff game \u2013 the Thunder became increasingly annoying. This was WWE disguised as the NBA. And let\u2019s be clear: Game 3 will look a lot like Wednesday if the Nuggets don\u2019t put in a mouthpiece and lace up their gloves.<\/p>\n This series will be won in a ring, not on a court. The Thunder is not changing. OKC\u2019s players relish this like pigs in mud.<\/p>\n Lu Dort turned the paint into a cagematch. Isaiah Hartenstein yapped at a Nuggets assistant coach \u2013 When isn\u2019t he complaining? \u2013 leading to a technical. Alex Caruso nipped at Nikola Jokic\u2019s ankles like a chihuahua on a double espresso.<\/p>\n Even Rumble the Mascot looks like Teen Wolf on steroids.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the playoffs,\u201d said Michael Porter Jr, whose mind remains strong, but his ailing left shoulder has made him a liability. \u201cWe have to be the enforcer. And we did a bad job at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen, the Thunder is (bleeping) good. They had the Nuggets down bad. And they refused to retreat to the farthest neutral corner. Coach Mark Daigneault successfully challenged a foul call, leading 104-69 with 5:17 left in the third.<\/p>\n It fell under the guise of sticking up for his players, but it tilted closer to rubbing noses in the carpet.<\/p>\n It is hard to blame them. But it is also OK to loathe them.<\/p>\n Lots of teams act tough. But OKC is throwing so many limbs in so many directions, it\u2019s a wonder they don\u2019t hit an usher or the PA announcer.<\/p>\n Jokic downplayed the physicality after fouling out in the third quarter for the first time in his career. Aaron Gordon did not<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are calling the second foul almost all of the time. They are fouling Joker first. You know Jok is reactionary and they do get the second guy a lot of the time,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cBut they are fouling him. point blank. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a sobering truth in any rout. If you don\u2019t like it, stop it. And the Nuggets could not. They were embarrassed, humiliated and throttled. And that was just in the first nine minutes of the first quarter. They trailed 36-13, the game a mess of turnovers, open 3s and too much Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The effort was questionable. The execution was awful.<\/p>\n It was like they knew they had a split. And they could not wait to split to the nearest exit.<\/p>\n The thrashing left lingering questions: Can anyone on the Nuggets besides Jokic and Russell Westbrook match Oklahoma\u2019s brute force moving forward? \u201cMaybe\u201d is the uncomfortable answer.<\/p>\n Will MPJ ever make another meaningful basket?<\/p>\n MPJ is 3 for 18 from the floor in this series and 2 for 11 from 3-point range, numbers that demand he be benched or sit out to heal for Game 4. He is the baseball equivalent of a DH. When he\u2019s not hitting triples, he has no purpose. And nobody is picking up the slack. Christian Braun is 2 for 8 from beyond the arc. Denver\u2019s bench is Westbrook and the holograms, save for sprinkles of Peyton Watson.<\/p>\n