{"id":492625,"date":"2025-05-14T01:39:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T05:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/?post_type=news&#038;p=492625"},"modified":"2025-05-14T01:39:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T05:39:53","slug":"gilgeous-alexander-scores-31-vs-nuggets-closes-thunder-to-one-win-away-from-clinching-the-series","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/news\/gilgeous-alexander-scores-31-vs-nuggets-closes-thunder-to-one-win-away-from-clinching-the-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilgeous-Alexander scores 31 vs Nuggets, closes Thunder to one win away from clinching the series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"330\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 31 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 112-105 win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, giving them a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. The Thunder now sit just one win away from the Western Conference Finals and can close out the series on Thursday in Denver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"332\" data-end=\"651\">Despite a monstrous performance from Nikola Jokic\u2014who racked up 44 points and 15 rebounds\u2014Denver couldn\u2019t hold off a late Thunder surge. Oklahoma City showcased a balanced offensive effort, with six players scoring in double figures and Gilgeous-Alexander leading the charge by hitting 12 of his 23 field goal attempts.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">THE THUNDER ARE ONE WIN AWAY FROM THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS \u26a1 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eWHhWxU3dF\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/eWHhWxU3dF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1922504252380880950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"653\" data-end=\"846\">The Thunder stormed out of the gate with a 12-2 run, threatening to repeat their dominant Game 2 showing. Denver struggled early, converting just one of its first nine shots\u2014a putback by Jokic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"848\" data-end=\"1111\">However, the Nuggets responded with a strong second quarter, taking an 11-point lead before Oklahoma City clawed back to trail by only two, 56-54, at halftime. Jokic was already putting together a vintage performance by the break with 19 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1113\" data-end=\"1332\">Jamal Murray came alive in the third, dropping 13 points, while Jokic added 12 more to help the Nuggets build an 86-78 lead heading into the final quarter. But despite their lead, Denver missed key chances to pull away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1334\" data-end=\"1532\">Enter Lu Dort. After scoring just three points in the first three quarters, Dort exploded in the fourth, knocking down three clutch 3-pointers within a two-minute span to cut Denver\u2019s lead to 92-90.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER TONIGHT:<\/p>\n<p>31 POINTS<br \/>\n7 ASSISTS<br \/>\n6 REBOUNDS<br \/>\n2 STEALS<br \/>\n2 BLOCKS<br \/>\n12\/24 FGM <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cb882u2LBH\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/Cb882u2LBH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheHoopCentral\/status\/1922504174144537017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1534\" data-end=\"1926\">Jokic briefly steadied the Nuggets with a tough fadeaway three to tie the game at 103, but Oklahoma City finished stronger. Jalen Williams buried a critical three-pointer with 1:18 left to give the Thunder a 106-103 edge. Moments later, Gilgeous-Alexander sealed the win with a dagger triple with 48 seconds remaining, stretching the lead to six and effectively putting the game out of reach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1928\" data-end=\"2041\">The Thunder now carry momentum\u2014and a chance to close out the defending champions\u2014into a pivotal Game 6 in Denver.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zbs_Nb7lGR8?si=4bZT_J2bWtNCVxt1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 31 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 112-105 win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":492626,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"tags":[16736,16786,18636],"news_category":[16706,16715,14084],"gn_keywords":[17859,17840,22872],"acf":{"announce":"Jokic's amazing 44 points and 15 rebounds were not enough again as Oklahoma takes 3-2 lead","video":["video"]},"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_robots":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_facebook_image":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":"","rank_math_twitter_image":"","rank_math_snippet_shortcode":"","rank_math_primary_category":"","rankmath_seo":{"focus_keyword":"","description":"","title":"","canonical_url":"","robots":"","facebook":{"title":"","description":"","image":""},"twitter":{"title":"","description":"","image":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492627,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492625\/revisions\/492627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492625"},{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=492625"},{"taxonomy":"gn_keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gn_keywords?post=492625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}