Jamal Murray shook a disease to produce 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assistance, host Denver Nagets defeated Oklahoma City Thunder 119–107 on Thursday night and forced a decisive seventh game in their Western Conference semi-final series.
Nikola Jokik finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds as Denver traveled to Oklahoma City for Game 7 on Sunday. Christian Braun added 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Julian Stroathar came out of the bench to score 15 points, his Postsen Career High.
Michael Porter Junior added 10 points to Nugets, who defeated Los Angeles Clips in Game 7 to get out of the first round. Denver lost to Minnesota Timberwells in Game 7 of the last year’s Western Conference Semi -finals.
Stroathar, who had a total of 17 points in this year’s playoff before Thursday, scored all his points in the second half and gave Denver a lift from the bench with Murray. Murray was listed as a suspect before the game, but the game-high was played 42 minutes.
Shai Gilgeous-Aexander led Thunder with 32 points, Chet Holmagren scored a wound with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Luguintz Dort, Alex Karuso and Kaison Wallace scored 10 points. Jalen Williams pair 10 aid for Oklahoma City.
Murray hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth, leading to Denver a 93–82 lead, and the block by Russell Westbrook and Pitan Watson helped to keep the nuggets comfortably in front.
Thunder cut the deficit into seven, but Westbrook scored on an aggressive rebound and Stroathar hit two free throw to make it an 11-point game. Jokik returned after four minutes of rest and hit a 3-pointer and a floater and expanded up to 102–88 with 6:09.
The Stroathar Corner 3-Pinter made it 109–93 with 3:56 to play before Oklahoma City, making it to 9–2 runs, so that 1:53 remained 111–102 with the remaining 1:53.
Westbrook hit a driving and Nugets made Stretch six free throw to seal it.
Denver reached a halftime within 61–58 in the second quarter of 12 consecutive points. The Nagets went on 10–2 runs in the last 1:37 of the third, leading to 90-82 in the fourth.
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