Oklahoma City was undefeated (and at the top of NBC’s NBA Power Rankings). Denver came in banged up and without Jamal Murray (concussion) and Aaron Gordon (calf strain).
Injuries are also easy to overlook because the Nuggets also have Nikola Jokic, and his greatness, combined with a night in which it looked like Russell Westbrook jumped into the hot tub time machine, led to one of the surprising upsets of the young season Jokic had a triple-double 23/20/26 and Westbrook lost 29, which was enough for the Nuggets to win 124-122.
Jokić and Russ were unreal tonight in the @pepitas gain.
Wild: 23p, 20r, 16a, 2s, 2b
Brodie: 29p (10-15 shots), 6r, 6aJokić joins Westbrook (April 2, 2019) as the second player to record a 20/20/15 game since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. pic.twitter.com/zwozPyYZ2M
—NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2024
The Thunder hit some big shots late, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Peyton Watson, playing because Gordon was out, saved the day with this block.
The Thunder fall to 7-1 and are now in a three-way tie for first place in the West with the Suns and Warriors. Denver improves to 5-3, this is a big win for a team looking to stay afloat for the next few weeks until they get healthy.
