Denver Nuggets @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET
Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK | Game ID: 22400920
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
OKC 28 33 25 41 127DEN 29 31 23 20 103
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Gilgeous-Alexander scores 40 as Thunder top Nuggets 127-103 in matchup of West leaders
OKLAHOMA CITY -- — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 127-103 on Sunday in a matchup between the top two teams in the Western Conference.
Gilgeous-Alexander had eight assists and made all eight of his free throws for the West-leading Thunder, who won their seventh straight game and improved to 53-11. Jalen Williams added 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Denver's Nikola Jokic , who along with Gilgeous-Alexander is a top contender in the NBA MVP race, had 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. He was coming off the league’s first 30-20-20 triple-double in his team's 149-141 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Michael Porter Jr . had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets.
Denver went up 10-0 early as it took the Thunder nearly three minutes to score, but Oklahoma City cut its deficit to 29-28 by the end of the quarter.
The Thunder led 61-60 at halftime and took an 86-83 lead into the fourth quarter.
In a key sequence, Oklahoma City’s Aaron Wiggins stole the ball from Denver's Russell Westbrook , then Chet Holmgren dunked at the other end to give the Thunder a 98-91 lead with just under nine minutes remaining. Denver coach Michael Malone was called for a technical foul, and Williams made the free throw. Oklahoma City controlled the game from there.
Takeaways Nuggets: Jokic, normally the bully on the court, seemingly got frustrated with Oklahoma's 7-footers, Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein . He put up numbers but wasn't as dominant or smooth as he often is.
Thunder: Oklahoma City played at full strength after resting its key players, including Gilgeous-Alexander, during Friday's win against Portland .
Key mo ment Williams stole the ball from Jokic to spark a fast break. Oklahoma City's Lu Dort went up for a one-handed dunk that would have ignited the crowd, but he missed. Williams collected the rebound, then found Dort open in the corner. Dort knocked down a 3 that put the Thunder ahead 112-99 with just over four minutes remaining.
Key stat The Thunder committed just five turnovers.
Up next The teams meet again Monday night in Oklahoma City.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
DENAG A. Gordon
CB C. Braun
JM J. Murray
JP J. Pickett
MP M. Porter Jr.
NJ N. Jokić
PW P. Watson
RW R. Westbrook
SJ S. Jones
ZN Z. Nnaji
OKCAC A. Caruso
AW A. Wiggins
CH C. Holmgren
CW C. Wallace
IH I. Hartenstein
IJ I. Joe
JW J. Williams
JW Jal. Williams
JW Jay. Williams
KW K. Williams
LD L. Dort
SG S. Gilgeous-Alexander
DEN/OKC the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur