The NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Western Conference leader Denver Nuggets without ‘MVP’ Nikola Jokic.
Oklahoma won 101-99 against Denver in the 2022-23 NBA regular season held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, USA on the 23rd (Korean time).
With this victory, Oklahoma marked the season with 23 wins and 24 losses, and tied for 10th in the West with the Golden State Warriors.
Denver, who won the regular league MVP for the last two seasons in a row, took a break from Jokichi due to a bad hamstring, ending his 9-game winning streak. Denver maintained its lead with a season record of 33 wins and 14 losses, and the 1.5 game gap remained intact as the Memphis Grizzlies (31 wins, 15 losses), second in the West, lost to the Phoenix Suns.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is currently ranked 5th in the NBA in scoring (30.7 points), played a versatile role with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots, the most of both teams, and became the number one contributor to the victory. 헤라카지노도메인
Oklahoma, which led by 7 points until the 3rd quarter, allowed pursuit as the field goal rate dropped significantly in the 4th quarter due to the strong defense of the opponent. Thirty seconds before the end of the game, backup center Zeke Nnaji, who started in place of Jokichi, gave up a free throw to tie the game.
However, in the attack that followed, Gilgeous-Alexander came out as a ‘fixer’. In a side-out situation, he dug under the goal with a good move, and Josh Giddy gave up a pass. Gilgeous-Alexander broke the defense and scored with a banked shot.
Denver’s Jamal Gray’s last shot missed the rim, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s score was the game-winner.