Millsap’s 36 fuel Denver’s big win
Nuggets wrap up long trip as Plumlee makes huge block
OKLAHOMA CITY» Jamal Murray sank the go-ahead jumper. Paul Millsap and Will Barton hit the clutch free throws. But Mason Plumlee made the game-saving block.
Plumlee’s denial of Jerami Grant at the rim with 6.7 seconds left in overtime preserved the Nuggets’ one-point lead, which they carried to a 126-125 victory Friday night against the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was the fourth thriller in as many games between these division rivals — and a win Denver desperately needed to stay in the Western Conference playoff race.
“Play of the game in my opinion,” coach Michael Malone said.
The Nuggets (41-35), who played without injured secondleading scorer Gary Harris for the seventh consecutive game, entered Friday in 10th place in the conference standings — one game behind the ninth-place Los Angeles Clippers, who visited Portland late Friday, and two games back of eighth-place Utah, which hosted Memphis.
The Nuggets and Thunder stayed within one possession during the extra frame, Murray giving Denver a 122-121 lead with 1:37 to play.
After Russell Westbrook lost the ball out of bounds with 44.6 seconds left and then missed a layup with 22.6 seconds to play, the Thunder secured a jump ball after tying up Murray with 12.9 seconds to play. Then Plumlee went straight up for the block, and the ball landed in Millsap’s hands. Then Millsap and Barton went 4of-4 from the free-throw line to finish off the Nuggets’ victory.
“It was unbelievable,” Millsap said of Plumlee’s block. “I kind of stopped and the ball just fell right
in my hands. Then I just had to refocus, because I had to go knock some free throws down. I was in awe at first, and then I woke up.”
Plumlee’s massive defensive play capped off a wild back-andforth affair — one in which Denver surrendered a 15-point second-half lead but then rallied from six points down with 2:22 left in regulation to force overtime. Barton tied the score at 114 when he drove, spun and finished inside with nine seconds to play, before a Westbrook 3-pointer clanged off the rim just before the buzzer.
The Thunder began the fourth quarter on a 23-7 run, with a 3pointer by Grant giving the Thunder a 99-97 lead with 6:16 to play before Alex Abrinas followed with his own longball.
That lead held until the final minute of regulation, when Millsap finished off the glass to cut the advantage to 110-108, then tied the game with 49.2 seconds to play. Steven Adams answered with one free throw, before Westbrook threw down a thunderous dunk off an offensive rebound to increase that lead to 112-110 with 25.4 seconds left.
Millsap, who finished with a season-high 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting and added nine rebounds, answered with a layup before Paul George went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line and gave Barton a chance to tie.
“The way we did it was very special, because we’ve been struggling on this road trip with closing games out,” Millsap said. “(Those were) so many things that we’ve been missing these past few games, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Nuggets built their thirdquarter lead behind the duo of Millsap and Nikola Jokic, who finished with 23 points and added 16 rebounds and six assists. They scored Denver’s first 13 points after halftime and 19 of its 30 in the frame.
Westbrook just missed his 24th triple-double of the season with 33 points, nine rebounds and 13 assists. Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points and added nine rebounds against his former team.