Thunder drops 4th straight
DENVER — Hours before his Nuggets hosted the Thunder on Thursday, it was clear the message Denver coach Michael Malone had delivered to his team.
Oklahoma City had lost three straight. It would be fiery and fed up. Guard Jamal Murry brought it up at the Nuggets’ shootaround, and Malone drove home the point minutes later.
“You can kind of sense the frustration they have just with their own selves,” Malone said. “We know we’re going to get an unbelievably motivated and aggressive team.”
The way the night started, it looked like he’d be right.
But when it mattered, the Nuggets scrapped a little harder, made a few more plays. Denver had more energy down the stretch, and the Thunder’s frustration continued, a winless road trip ending with a 102-94 loss at the Pepsi Center.
Nikola Jokic put back a Denver miss with 52 seconds to play to put his team up by eight, a play that summarized the way the game had turned since a strong Thunder fourth quarter.
The Nuggets were a step quicker to the ball and dramatically better around the rim. They outscored the Thunder 28-10 in the paint in the second half. OKC had a 21-8 first-half edge in second-chance points. Denver outscored the Thunder 11-5 on second chances in the second half.
“We just got stronger,” Nuggets forward Paul Millsap said.
The Thunder returns home for a Friday date with the banged-up L.A. Clippers in desperate need of a win.
But it also had entered Thursday in need.
“We’ve got to play with some attitude tonight,” point guard Raymond
Felton said at shootaround. “We’ve got to play angry and try to go out and get a win.”
And OKC started off like a team hungry for its first conference win.
The Thunder got off to a strong start, as it had in Sacramento on Tuesday. But where the Kings game mostly was marked early by Sacramento’s sloppiness, Oklahoma City was sharp early. It made 11 of 22 first-quarter shots, including 3 of 6 3-pointers, leading by as many as 11 points and by eight entering the second quarter.
But the Thunder couldn’t sustain that shooting into the second quarter. It made 10 of 27 shots in the second — Westbrook was 1 for 5 and Anthony 2 for 6 — as the Nuggets fought back. Denver led in the quarter, though never by more than two points, and the Thunder took a 53-51 edge into the half.
The teams ended the third quarter tied at 75, but the Nuggets controlled the fourth.
Denver outscored OKC 27-19 in the final quarter, shooting 52.6 percent to the Thunder’s 38.1 percent. The Nuggets had seven assists on 10 fourth quarter baskets, the Thunder one assist on eight buckets.
Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George combined to shoot 4 for 13 in the fourth. Westbrook was 1 for 7, Anthony 3 for 5 and George 0 for 1. They combined for 54 points, 26 by Anthony, who made 10 of 20 shots and 6 of 10 3-pointers.
Emmanuel Mudiay led Denver with 21 points. Jokic added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Millsap 17 points and seven boards. Adams injured
Thunder center Steven Adams left the game with a calf contusion in the fourth quarter. Adams went to the locker room and did not return. He finished with nine points and 11 rebounds on 4-of-10 shooting.