3 Takeaways From OKC Thunder's Loss to Denver Nuggets

Lightning didn't strike twice for the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.

The Oklahoma City Thunder knocked off the Nuggets in their previous affair, but Denver battled back to gain back a 140-127 win at Paycom Center. Though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to have put the MVP conversation to bed with his 40-point performance, NIkola Jokic one-upped him in this particular game.

The Thunder had a strong offensive performance overall, but the Nuggets simply shot the basketball better in an unstoppable night. Oklahoma City's defense has been its strength throughout the entire season, but nothing was preventing Denver from scoring a grand point total.

Here are three takeaways from the 13-point loss:

Three More for Dort

Luguentz Dort is shooting nearly 40% from beind the arc this season, but even his performance against the Nuggets was a bit of a surprise.

Dort knocked down a career-high 8-of-14 3-pointers in the loss, finishing his night with 26 points, seven rebounds and four steals in 34 minutes of action. He's a reliable shot maker on most occasions, but getting 20+ points out of him isn't a common ocurrence for the Thunder.

Post All-Star break hasn't been the most encouraging stretch of play for Dort — struggling in particular from 3-point range — but this scoring output could show signs of more life coming to his shot. Oklahoma City's offense is already elite, but when Dort can knock down anywhere close to that amount of attempts, it gets even scarier.

The performance may have no translated to a win for Dort, but it was a needed confidence booster for him moving forward. His defense is always going to be there, but the offense also has to in the playoffs.

MVP Debate Returns

After the Thunder knocked Denver last time — after Gilgeous-Alexander had yet another 40+ point game — much of the conversation called for the end of the MVP race.

While Gilgeous-Alexander still seems to be the frontrunner taking into account records, Jokic's 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists on 15-of-20 shooting might just have something to say about that. Despite being questionable before the contest, he still suited up and performed.

Jokic was absolutely unloading from everywhere on offense, taking it to Oklahoma City's big man duo of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein with constant looks. Shooting 75% against that defensive unit, no matter how great a player is, is highly impressive.

The Thunder and Nuggets splitting these two games certainly keeps the MVP race alive, despite what both fanbases might want to say otherwise. Finishing the season strong will still be important for Gilgeous-Alexander, regardless of if Oklahoma City's seeding is locked.

Chet Will be Fine

Although Chet Holmgren has seemed to relatively get back to his old form in recent games, last night was more of a stinker for him than anything.

The 22-year-old finished with eight points, four rebounds and two blocks on 3-of-11 shooting in 29 minutes of playing time. That included 0-of-5 shooting from behind the arc, which has been one of the biggest struggle areas for him so far since his return.

This was Holmgren's first time since his return playing on a back-to-back — a situation that Oklahoma City has been avoiding putting him in because of injury. He may not have performed up to his standards, but even playing in this game was a step forward in his process.

There doesn't need to be any concern for Holmgren after this performance. Subpar ones are bound to happen sometimes, especially when you just play two-straight games against one of the greatest centers in NBA history.