Shai & The Thunder NEVER SAW THIS Coming…

Shai & The Thunder NEVER SAW THIS Coming…

Look at him. Move him out of the way. Strawther. Of course, the Julian Strawther game. In a do or die situation, an unlikely hero emerged for the Nuggets, giving them a huge spark off the bench. And the Thunder never saw it coming. But let’s start from the beginning. Denver faced problems even before the game started with Jamal Murray being listed as questionable because he was feeling sick with flu-l like symptoms. But in his mind, there weren’t any questions. When you woke up this morning, was there any chance you didn’t play in this game? Absolutely not. And you could tell he came prepared right off the bat. Murray for three. Got it. A foul. Chance at a four-point play for Jamal Murray. Murray, nice move off the bounce. And Jamal Murray a hot start. He’s got six points already. And I got to interrupt his streak for a second with this gorgeous move by the Joker. Took it all the way. Yic with the spin and the basket like a dancing bear. A spot-on commentary. Anyway, the first period was all about Jamal. Murray trying to get free. Caruso on him. Murray past and hangs. Scoop and score. Jamal Murray. Nine points out of the 13 for the Nuggets. Brown drives, fires to Murray, makes the pass, and hits from mid-range. 11 points, four of five from the floor. 11 points on 80% efficiency. Looking fresher than ever in the opening quarter. And to continue the trend we started. Here’s another genius move by Joic. Entry pass. Joic. Joic puts it in. The Nuggets were rolling to a 10-point lead by taking care of the ball and finding the best possible shot on the floor. And then the Brody came in and totally disrupted what was a perfect scenario thus far for Denver. Swings it. Tried to get it back. The pass by Westbrook broken up beautifully. Yic battling with Jaylen Williams. Westbrook on the fall away. Not even close. And Jaylen Williams rebounds. Westbrook again driving, turns it over again. A six to1 swing for OKC in one minute of action forced by the shenanigans of Westbrook. And watch him here taking the three with 17 seconds on the shot clock. Bro, you’re 31% from deep in the playoffs. Why rush the shot? So SGA used the momentum to close the gap to just three points at the end of the first quarter. Body as SGA goes to the left hand and banks it in. What a shot by SGA with a second left. The Thunder continued to build on that in the second as well by doing what they know best and that is turning defense into offense. What a play by Jaylen Williams to steal the inbound pass. Homer in transition flies in there and slams it down. Timeout Denver Nuggets having all kinds of issues just getting the ball in. Then Kase Wallace came in and blitzed the Nuggets all by himself. Corner three. Good. Kase Wallace ties the game at 37. Oak missed them both but kept alive by Caruso and Williams tried to save it in the back court and does to Wallace. That’s already just two plays by Caruso on both ends where you see his value. Wow. Wallace showing great speed. This is one of the fastest teams in the league. They’re going to let us play. Well, that was in the first quarter, not in the second. A lot more whistles here in this frame. Another Denver turnover. Ali Pongren over Yic. A 9-2 run fueled by Wallace gave OKC a four-point lead. And the bank was still open for Sheay who was in shock he didn’t get the whistle on this one. Kyas Alexander banked that one in. He thought he was fouled on the play. Didn’t get the whistle. Seeing that one fall, Alexander felt pretty confident. So Kyas Alexander step back three. That’s good. Shake. Gilas Alexander with his first three-pointer of the game. He’s catching fire here late in the first half. And a couple of possessions later, he did a great job by drawing the defense all around him before kicking the ball out for a wideopen look by Chad. Yo Alexander weaving through traffic out to Williams. Extra pass. Homegrren wide open burries a three. Homegrren capped off another mini run of 11 to2 by the Thunder for their biggest lead of the night. On the other end, after almost four minutes without a bucket, Christian Brown answers the call. Brown walks back behind the line, answers with the triple. Brown finally stops the bleeding and Joic gets the best out of shape with his quick hands to steal the ball away and force the foul. This was the fourth personal for SGA who had to sit down. So here come the Nuggets storming back right before halftime in the final stages of the first half. Gordon slams it through. Denver back within five with a minute left. Murray hasn’t scored in the quarter. 11 in the first. Driving here. Goes to the left hand. What a sweet move hanging and finishing Jamal Murray. Brown to tie it. Got it. Denver responded with an electric 120 run to tie the game thinking that they had the last word before the half. Well, Lou Dort had something to say about that. 3 seconds left. Fires to Dort with one. Launches and hits. Lou Dort beats the buzzer with a rainbow three and that ends a Denver 12 nothing run. Dor buries a coldblooded three to calm down the roaring crowd a bit. And the second half didn’t start the way the Nuggets fans would prefer either because here’s Porter. Quiet first half. That was way short by about 3 feet on that teardrop. Michael Porter is having his worst playoff series of his career so far. Just seven points per game on 28% from downtown against the Thunder. It’s evident that the shoulder injury from the Clippers series is bothering him a lot. Regardless, the two MVP candidates started going head-to-head. Joic, eight rebounds, three assists to go with the 12 points. Puts it on the floor here. Hangs and finishes. What a tough finish that was. Lead back to three for Denver. Gilas Alexander with a side step and score plus a foul. Quiet. Just five shot attempts, five points. Joic in the paint going at Homegrren and floating it up and home is Gilas Alexander. He’s got 20 points. Canning the three. With neither one backing down the third quarter turned into a gritty, hard-fought battle with Joic and Shay leading their teams through every possession. What’s MPJ on the Nuggets? That’s Jay Dub on the Thunder in this series. At least on the offensive end. As good as Williams has been defensively, he’s been non-existent shooting the ball. Another atrocious outing of just six points on three of 16 from the field. So in a very lowscoring stretch when nothing came easy on both sides, Coach Adelman inserted Julian Strawther in the game who triggered an astonishing chain of events. Strawther for three. Julian Strawther with his first points of the game. Yodas Alexander driving goes to the left hand. Layup no good. Homegrren swatted by Yosh ahead to Murray. Challenged by Williams and Murray scores. Denver pushes its lead to five with a minute to go in the third and an offensive foul called on Jaylen Williams on the screen. That’s his fourth. Hurry around two screens. Homegrren picks him up. Murray keeps the bounce now to the corner. Strather again another one. The 23-year-old who played sparingly during the regular season coming up huge in game six draws Hartenstein on the switch. Fires underneath. Strawther puts it in. Oh my goodness. A 100 furious run sparked by Murray and Strawther flips the entire arena on its head. And things would have been perfect if it wasn’t for this suspicious foul by Brown on SGA. However, the Nuggets had an eight-point lead going into the final period which Murray extended right away. Off the bench at nine in a game in this playoffs. Three-pointer from Jamal Murray goes down. Down by 11. And with Jay gone missing, the veteran for this team, Alex Caruso, stepped up when they needed a boost. And here go the Thunder in transition. Caruso got it to go. What a play with Watson trying to swat it. As I said before, here is Williams poking the ball away from Gordon on one end and then again pushing ahead to Williams. Watson with a great play. Gets the swap. One of the elite shot blockers in the league. Strawther takes it to the cup. Westbrook with the follow. Lead back to nine for Denver. A crucial four-point swing for Denver right here. first with the block by Payton and then Russ with the great followup after Julian Smith and they let Straddther play one-on-one against Jay here which ended up with a foul and two made free throws for the youngster. So after sitting the first four minutes of the last period, Joic came back with one thing on his mind and that is to seal the deal as soon as possible. Joic rested the first four minutes and 7 seconds. He’s come back fresh and Joic from deep gives Denver a 12-point lead. Denver try to force a game seven which would be an Oklahoma City Sunday. Joic up and down. Big Papa with five straight points put his team up by 14 and the crowd went crazy. But Joic is at his best when he’s making plays for the others. Joic. Oh, what a pass. No look to Christian Brown. That was some sorcery by Nicola Joic. And Joic going right back at him. Just backing him down. Look at him move him out of the way. Strawther of course the Julian Strawther game. Julius Strother puts the exclamation point on this game with his 15th point all in a span of 10 minutes. Unbelievable. The guy who scored 17 total in the entire playoff so far came in and gave the Nuggets an energy injection in an elimination game. The Thunder made one last push to try and come back in the game, but it was too little too late as Denver remained calm at the foul line to close it out. The Nuggets are headed to their seventh game seven in the Yokic Jamal era and they’ve been pretty successful at it with a 4-2 record. So with all the experience and the best player on the planet on their side, I give them the slight advantage over the Thunder on Sunday and the Celtics with their backs against the wall themselves turned to none other than Luke Cornet to be their hero. I broke down his phenomenal game that gave Boston just what they needed in order to survive to fight another day. Check it out right here and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

In a do or die situation, an unlikely hero emerged for the Nuggets, giving them a huge spark off the bench, and the Thunder never saw it coming. But let’s start from the beginning. Denver faced problems even before the game started, with Jamal Murray being listed as questionable because he was feeling sick with flu-like symptoms. But in his mind there weren’t any questions. And you could tell he came prepared right from the bat. I gotta interrupt his streak for a second with this gorgeous move by the Joker. A spot on commentary. Anyway, the 1st period was all about Jamal. 11 points on 80% efficiency, looking fresher than ever in the opening quarter.
And to continue the trend we started, here’s another genius move by Jokic. The Nuggets were rolling to a 10 point lead by taking care of the ball and finding the best possible shot on the floor. And then, the Brodie came in and totally disrupted what was a perfect scenario thus far for Denver. A 6 to 1 swing for OKC in 1 minute of action forced by the shenanigans of Westbrook. And watch him here taking the 3 with 17 seconds on the shot clock. Bro, you’re 31% from deep in the playoffs, why rush the shot!?? So, SGA used the momentum to close the gap to just 3 points at the end of the 1st quarter. The Thunder continued to build on that in the 2nd as well, by doing what they know best, and that is – turning defense into offense. Then, Cason Wallace came in and blitzed the Nuggets all by himself. A 9 to 2 run fueled by Wallace gave OKC a 4 point lead. And the bank was still open for Shai who was in shock he didn’t get the whistle on this one. Seeing that one fall, Alexander felt pretty confident, so… And a couple of possessions later, he did a great job by drawing the defense all around him before kicking the ball out for a wide open look by Chet. Holmgren capped off another mini run of 11 to 2 by the Thunder for their biggest lead of the night. On the other end, after almost 4 minutes without a bucket, Christian Braun answers the call. Braun finally stops the bleeding and Jokic gets the best out of Shai with his quick hands to steal the ball away and force the foul. This was the 4th personal for SGA who had to sit down. So, here comes the Nuggets storming back right before halftime.
Denver responded with an electric 12-0 run to tie the game, thinking they had the last word before the half… Well, Lu Dort had something to say about that… Dort buries a cold blooded 3 to calm down the roaring crowd a bit. And the 2nd half didn’t start the way Nuggets fans would prefer either, because… Michael Porter is having his worst playoff series of his career so far, just 7 ppg on 28% from downtown against the Thunder… That’s nowhere near what a 35 million player should produce in a game. Regardless, the 2 MVP candidates started going head to head. With neither one backing down, the 3rd quarter turned into a gritty, hard-fought battle, with Jokic and Shai leading their teams through every possession. What’s MPJ on the Nuggets, that’s Jay Dub on the Thunder in this series, at least on the offensive end. As good as Williams has been defensively, he’s been non-existent shooting the ball. Another atrocious outing of just 6 points on 3 of 16 from the field. So, in a very low scoring stretch when nothing came easy on both sides, coach Adelman inserted Julian Strawther in the game, who triggered an astonishing chain of events. Oh my goodness, a 10-0 furious run sparked by Murray and Strawther flips the entire arena on its head. And things would’ve been perfect if it wasn’t for this suspicious foul by Braun on SGA. However, the Nuggets had an 8 point lead going into the final period, which Murray extended right away. Down by 11, and with Jay gone missing, the veteran for this team – Alex Caruso stepped up when they needed a boost. As I said before, here is Williams poking the ball away from Gordon on one end, and then… A crucial 4 point swing for Denver right here, first with the block by Payton and then Russ with the great follow up after Julian’s miss. And they let Strawther play 1 on 1 against Jay here, which ended up with a foul and 2 made free throws for the youngster. So, after sitting the first 4 minutes of the last period, Jokic came back with one thing on his mind, and that’s to seal the deal as soon as possible. Big Poppa with 5 straight points put his team up by 14 and the crowd went crazy. But, Jokic is at his best when he’s making plays for the others. Julian Strawther puts the exclamation point on this game with his 15th point, all in a span of 10 minutes.