Denver Nuggets in Driver's Seat to Face OKC Thunder in Round 2

The Oklahoma City Thunder are still awaiting their second round matchup in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Much lie a year ago, the OKC Thunder not only secured the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, but took care of the No. 8 seed in short order.

On Saturday afternoon, the OKC Thunder swept away the Memphis Grizzlies to put an end to their first round battle. Just as the Thunder beat the Pelicans in four game fashion a year ago. This marks the third sweep in franchise history for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This has led the Thunder to play the waiting game. A situation they are familiar with after two straight years of waiting out the NBA Play-In tournament to wrap up to learn its opening round matchup and finishing said first round before its No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed counterparts.

In the NBA Playoffs, which has been littered with drama and storylines, perhaps the best series on the board has been the No. 4 seeded Denver Nuggets taking on the No. 5 seeded LA Clippers.

On Tuesday, those two sides played a pivotal Game 5 in the Mile High City with the series knotted up at two games each. This swing game went in favor of the Nuggets, 131-115.

Denver was led by a 43 point outburst by Jamal Murray and a triple-double outing by superstar Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets held the Clippers stars in check, sending the series back to LA with the Clips season on the line after a 20 point night from Kawhi Leonard and a measley 11 points from James Harden.

Teams with a 3-2 lead and homecourt advantage are 192-23 in their series (89.6%). During the first round under those same conditions, teams are 50-2.

This puts the Denver Nuggets squarely in the driver's seat against the LA Clippers to win the series and earn the right to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs.