Oklahoma stuns Denver in NBA’s Battle of the Western Conference giants

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Oklahoma City Thunder kicked off its 2024-2025 NBA regular season campaign on a high note after outdueling the Denver Nuggets, 102-87, on October 25, 2024.

Despite playing on the road in their very first game of the season, Oklahoma City proved that they are no fluke as they pulled off a wire-to-wire win over the former NBA champs, dissecting and slicing them with their high-octane attack.

The Thunder quickly opened the gate wide open in the first 12 minutes of action, dropping 31 massive points against the Denver mob’s signature perimeter coverage.

Chet Holmgren played like a veteran and shrugged off his sophomore jitters, dropping 25 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and two steals.

The towering center became the difference maker as Oklahoma ran their offense to him when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was hand-cuffed early in the first half.

Holmgren abused his advantage in the pockets and bullied every switch Denver made, converting on 11 out of his 18 total attempts from the field.

When the Nuggets decided to force out their switches to contest every Holmgren post-up, Alexander, the NBA’s runner-up in the MVP voting last season, began to operate and schooled Denver in the second half.

The crafty Canadian torched Denver with 16 second-half points and was unconscious in the final six minutes of the third frame.

Alexander’s third-quarter masterpiece steered the Thunder to its biggest lead of the game at 20 points, forcing Denver head coach Michael Malone to call several frustration timeouts.

The Nuggets showed some signs of life in the final frame when the duo of Jokic and Jamal Murray scored much-needed buckets to get within 14 points but the Thunder once again went back to Holmgren who crashed back-to-back offensive boards that rewarded Oklahoma with four quick points.

Alexander then put on the finishing touches after cashing in a tough fade-away shot capped off by a floater in the lane to protect their double-digit lead.

The scoring machine led the Thunder in scoring and also had a great all-around effort of 28 markers, eight dimes, seven boards, three blocks, and two steals.

On the other hand, the Nuggets received an efficient triple-double outing from Jokic who tallied 16 points, 13 assists, 12 rebounds, and two steals but his efforts weren’t enough to propel Denver to an early NBA win.