Oklahoma City was undefeated (and atop NBC’s NBA Power Rankings). Denver came in banged up and without Jamal Murray (concussion) and Aaron Gordon (calf strain).
It’s also easy to look past the injuries because the Nuggets also have Nikola Jokic — and his greatness, combined with a night where it looked like Russell Westbrook jumped in the hot tub time machine, led to one of the surprising upsets of the young season. Jokic had a 23/20/26 triple-double, and Westbrook dropped 29, which was enough to get the Nuggets the 124-122 win.
Jokić and Russ were UNREAL tonight in the @nuggets win.
Joker: 23p, 20r, 16a, 2s, 2b
Brodie: 29p (10-15 shooting), 6r, 6aJokić joins Westbrook (Apr. 2, 2019) as the 2nd player to record a 20/20/15 game since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968! pic.twitter.com/zwozPyYZ2M
— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2024
The Thunder hit some big shots late, and a driving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Peyton Watson — playing because Gordon was out — saved the day with this block.
The Thunder fall to 7-1 and are now in a three-way tie for first in the West with the Suns and Warriors. Denver improves to 5-3, this is a big win for a team looking to keep its head above water the next couple of weeks until they get healthy.