Oklahoma City was undefeated (and atop NBC’s NBA Power Rankings). Denver came in with a bang and without Jamal Murray (concussion) and Aaron Gordon (calf strain).
It’s easy to look past the injuries, too, because the Nuggets also have Nikola Jokic — and his greatness, combined with a night where it felt like Russell Westbrook jumped into the hot tub time machine, led to one of the surprising upsets of the young season. Jokic had a 23/20/26 triple-double and Westbrook dropped 29, which was enough to give the Nuggets the 124-122 win.
Jokić and Russ were UNREAL in the tonight @nuggets win.
Joker: 23p, 20r, 16a, 2s, 2b
Brodie: 29p (10-15 shooting), 6r, 6aJokić joins Westbrook (April 2, 2019) as the second player to record a 20/20/15 match since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968! pic.twitter.com/zwozPyYZ2M
— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2024
The Thunder hit some big shots late and a driving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Peyton Watson – playing because Gordon was out – saved the day with the block.
The Thunder fall to 7-1 and are now tied for first place in the West with the Suns and Warriors. Denver improves to 5-3, this is a big win for a team looking to stay afloat in the coming weeks until they get healthy.
