NBA playoffs: Thunder steamroll Nuggets in Game 2, with postseason-record 87 first-half points

Joshua Gateley via Getty Images

No 20-point lead is safe in this year’s NBA playoffs. The good news for the Oklahoma City Thunder is a 49-point lead is still pretty safe.

Amid a stretch of three straight days with massive NBA playoff comebacks, the Thunder put the hurt on a Denver Nuggets team that surprised them in Game 1 and definitely paid the price for it on Wednesday in a 149-106 OKC win. With the series now tied 1-1, the two teams will head to Denver for Game 3 on Friday.

The game was effectively over minutes into the third quarter, and was definitely over by the end of the third quarter, when Nikola Jokić fouled out and the Thunder started pulling starters. 

It was an overwhelming group effort from OKC, but the nucleus was still clearly Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The MVP favorite (sorry Nuggets fans) posted 34 points on 11-of-13 shooting with eight assists, and set an NBA play-by-play era record with a plus-51 rating in his 30 minutes of play.

Thunder set NBA playoff record with 87 first-half points

After a slow start in Game 1, the Thunder hit the opening minutes of Game 2 like a bullet train. 

Six minutes into the first quarter, they were up by 11 points. At the end of the first quarter, they were up by 24 points. And by halftime, they were up 87-56, setting an NBA playoff record for scoring in the first half.

That half saw six different Thunder players score in double digits and the team commit two turnovers total, while outrebounding Denver 30-21. They kept their foot on the gas in the second half as well, leading by as much as 49 in the fourth quarter.

It was the kind of avalanche we saw the Thunder unleash throughout the regular season, which ended with the team setting an NBA record for scoring differential. 

Not Nikola Jokić’s finest night

In Game 1, Jokić was once again the star for the Nuggets, posting 42 points and 22 rebounds in a duel between the league’s top MVP candidates. It went less well in Game 2.

The Thunder basically went out of their way to make Jokić miserable, holding the three-time MVP to 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds, six assists and six turnovers. He fouled out in the third quarter, and didn’t particularly thrive on defense either.

It has proven borderline impossible this season for the Nuggets to win a game when they get outscored with Jokić on the court. They were outscored by 36 points in his 32 minutes on Wednesday.