3 Takeaways from OKC Thunder's Offensive Surge in Game 2 Win

Game 2 was eerily important for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After a fourth quarter collapse in Game 1, Oklahoma City couldn't afford the Denver Nuggets taking the first two games in Paycom Center. Given that, from the beginning, it looked like a highly determined version of the Thunder.

By the time the first quarter wrapped, Oklahoma City led 45-21. It didn't look back from there either, continuing an intense offensive attack until it reached a 149-106 win. Now, the series is split at an even 1-1 tie.

The Thunder wasn't in need of an elite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander performance for the entirety of the second half, but he continued to produce. In 30 minutes, the MVP frontrunner recorded 34 points, four rebounds and eight assists on 11-of-13 shooting from the field.

Here are three takeaways from the blowout win:

The Ideal...Response?

At first glance, one might consider Game 2 as a response. The frustrations of Game 1 were quickly evaporated, as Oklahoma City unleashed an offensive array that Denver wasn't prepared to deal with.

In some ways it was, but in other ways it was just a more natural Thunder performance. It has dominated teams in this manner throughout the regular season — it just didn't quite find its footing in this series.

"I didn't really look at tonight as a response, as much as I looked at tonight as just us being who we are, and that's how we've been all season," head coach Mark Daigneault said following the win.

Oklahoma City could've let the struggles creep in for another game, but it kept a strong mindset and focused on playing its own game. It's remained confident all year long — one loss isn't going to change that even in a playoff setting.

A Game 2 loss certainly could've shaken the Thunder up, but ending with a split on its home court makes things less worrisome. Heading into a road environment, nothing is expected to change about its preperation.

"We don't really respond to the last game." Daigneault said. "When we win, we don't have more confidence. When we lose we don't have more urgency. This team has a really good baseline that we just try to return to every day when the sun comes up and we have a game."

Executing Free Throws

Oklahoma City left some to be desired at the charity stripe in Game 1 — but that wasn't the case this time around.

Bouncing back from a 20-of-28 clip — a few of which cost the final result of the game — the Thunder shot a whopping 33-of-36 Wednesday night. There's a balance of getting to the free-throw line and being efficient that many teams struggle to find, but everything was fully clicking.

Gilgeous-Alexander alone shot 11-of-11 on his attempts, but he was far from the only one to find success there. Chet Holmgren redeemed himself with 7-of-7 shooting, while Jalen Williams followed closely behind with 5-of-6 shooting.

The Nuggets still knocked down a respectable 25 free-throw attempts by the end of the game, but it was still one of the many separators nevertheless. Oklahoma City's offense was dominant on all fronts — and adding over 30 free throws on top of that made the performance unstoppable.

Moving forward, getting to the line is going to be just as important as it was in this case.

Holding The "Others"

In Game 1, Nikola Jokic torched the the Thunder with 44 points and 22 rebounds. As inevitable as his play is, even if he was underwhelming with just 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes last night.

Denver isn't a one-dimensional team, however, carrying a few key weapons that could give Oklahoma City trouble. Aside from Russell Westbrook, no Nugget played up to expectations — partly due to the Thunder defense.

The Game 1 savior — Aaron Gordon — struggled with 10 points and five rebounds on 3-of-12 shooting from the field. Michael Porter Jr. didn't fare any better in his second attempt to get some rhythm going, finishing with a measly eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.

Above all, Jamal Murray is the expected No. 2 scoring option behind Jokic. Even he hardly made an impact with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting — not remotely close to the needed volume.

Looking at the rest of the series, it's hard to envision Jokic struggling this much again. But, if Oklahoma City can limit the "others" to this capacity, it'll lend itself to keep picking up wins.