Thunder need to fix fourth-quarter issues vs. Nuggets

Nikola Jokic struggled to make shots and Denver lost the offensive rebounding battle 18-5, yet the Nuggets won Game 3 over Oklahoma City and have an opportunity to take a commanding lead in their Western Conference semifinal series on Sunday afternoon.

The Nuggets’ 113-104 overtime win Friday night gave them a 2-1 lead in the series, and they will host Game 4 in Denver.

The Thunder experienced this situation in the playoffs last year — the No. 1 seed down and on the road in the second round — and fell to Dallas in six games. There will be a sense of desperation Sunday that should be similar to Oklahoma City’s Game 2 performance, when it won by 43 points.

The Thunder are a plus-32 in this series yet have lost two of the first three games, and the losses have been similar — a lack of execution in the fourth quarter that allowed an outmanned Denver team to escape while relying on its championship experience.

Oklahoma City star and potential MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored only three points in the fourth quarter when he shot 1-for-8 from the field, and he didn’t attempt a field goal in overtime.

“The game gets slower, execution matters more. In those moments when the game slows down, it usually comes down to your best players making shots and making plays,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

Despite the taunts he heard from Nuggets fans, he remains unwavering heading into Game 4.

“Nothing’s written,” he said. “The series is not over.”

His teammates haven’t lost confidence, either.

“We obviously haven’t won a championship like they have. But we’ve had close games against great teams on the road, and we’ve won,” Alex Caruso said.

The Nuggets have done that in two of the first three games even though the Thunder have frustrated Jokic. He fouled out of Game 2, missed all 10 of his 3-point attempts Friday night and was 8-for-25 from the field.

He did make both his shot attempts in the overtime period but missed a potential game-winner at the end of the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City has mixed up its defenses on the three-time MVP, bottling him up in the paint and forcing him to the perimeter. Jokic has dealt with nearly every situation in his career, but he has not solved the Thunder’s defense.

“I don’t know what they are doing,” he said about the Thunder’s defense. “Because if I knew, probably I’m not going to have those kinds of mistakes. So I need to figure out what they’re doing.”

It took Aaron Gordon’s tying 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation and the bounce-back game from Michael Porter Jr. — who went 5-for-6 from deep on his way to 21 points — to rescue Denver.

Porter’s play has been inconsistent due, in large part, to a sprained left shoulder that he has wrapped during games. He said he took an injection of lidocaine in his ailing joint, which normally needs up to six weeks to heal. He said missing time wasn’t an option.

“I knew I wasn’t doing that,” Porter said.

–Field Level Media