The Oklahoma City Thunder, two nights after blowing a double-digit lead in the series-opening loss to the Denver Nuggets, cruised to a 149-106 rout in Wednesday’s Game 2 to become the first home team to record a win in this round of the playoffs.
“We knew what was at stake tonight,” Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said “We came out desperate.”
Gilgeous-Alexander dominated from the opening tip until the end of the third quarter, when he checked out of the game for good with the Thunder up 48 points. He finished with 34 points and eight assists, shooting 11-of-13 from the floor and 11-of-11 from the line.
“I definitely wanted to put an imprint on the game from the get [go] without trying to force anything, and ultimately still just let the game tell me what to do,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The game’s going to test me. Every possession down, they’re going to throw a coverage at me, and I have to make the right decision, make the right answer. I think I did a pretty good job in the first quarter.”
Oklahoma City tied the franchise playoff record for the most points scored in a quarter by jumping out to a 45-21 lead after the first quarter. It was also the best scoring margin in any playoff quarter in franchise history.
“Basically, it was one team playing tonight,” said Jokic, who finished with 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting, six assists, six turnovers and the worst plus-minus [minus-36] of his career. “They were aggressive; they were going by us. They were much, much better than us today and that’s why the score is so bad.”
