{"id":650548,"date":"2026-03-10T09:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/650548\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:05:15","slug":"christian-braun-names-whos-to-blame-for-loss-to-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/650548\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Braun names who&#8217;s to blame for loss to Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Denver Nuggets<\/a> absorbed a painful defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 129-126, at Paycom Center on Monday, with <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/nba-stories\/nba-news-fans-erupt-wild-ending-thunder-nuggets-classic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivering the killer blow<\/a> with his game-winning three-pointer.<\/p>\n<p>The Nuggets have now dropped <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/thunder-news-jaylin-williams-clowned-ig-post-nikola-jokic-altercation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">all three of their games against the Thunder<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n<p>Gilgeous-Alexander had another MVP-type performance with 35 points, nine rebounds, 15 assists, one steal, and one block. He had no turnovers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/players\/b56a0974\/christian-braun\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian Braun<\/a>, who was tasked with guarding SGA, admitted that he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BennettDurando\/status\/2031221696544526542\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">did not do his job well<\/a>, as reported by The Denver Post&#8217;s Bennett Durando.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe busted my a** tonight. That last game, I knew I played well and got a block in a big moment. Tonight, he made the shot in a big moment. He made a couple of them. I know that I\u2019m gonna play him again. I\u2019m gonna play him in the playoffs,\u201d said Braun.<\/p>\n<p>Durando added that the 24-year-old guard told his teammates that <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BennettDurando\/status\/2031222658592027033\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">he was to blame<\/a> for their tough loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I do a good job on him (Gilgeous-Alexander) like (the last game), we have a really good chance to win those games. But tonight, I wasn&#8217;t good enough. He goes 14 for 21. Anytime he&#8217;s that efficient, they&#8217;re gonna have a better chance to win,\u201d added Braun.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder beat the Nuggets in overtime, 127-121, last month. SGA scored 36 points on 12-of-29 shooting, including 0-of-3 from beyond the arc. It was his first game back from an extended layoff due to an abdominal strain.<\/p>\n<p>Braun played 38 minutes on Monday, the second-most on the Nuggets behind Nikola Jokic&#8217;s 40 minutes. Focusing mostly on defense, he only scored four points in six attempts. He added nine rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block.<\/p>\n<p>The Nuggets will face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets absorbed a painful defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 129-126, at Paycom Center on Monday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,561,187,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-650548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-christian-braun","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-oklahoma","13":"tag-oklahoma-city","14":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","15":"tag-oklahomacity","16":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","17":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116204085309549190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}