Nuggets? Thunder? Game 7 On Way, As It Should Be

And the Thunder are getting another chance to eliminate the Nuggets. In fact, whoever wins next will move on to face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. The loser? Season over.

Game 7 is Sunday in OKC.

In Game 6, Nikola Jokic went for 29 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, and Jamal Murray shook off an illness to score 25, as the Nuggets raced to a 119-107 home win.

“Game 7s, I expect guys to stress the hell out,” ex-NBA center and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said on the postgame show.

For the record, he picked the Thunder, giving them a “60-percent chance” to win. “I think they’re gonna feed off their crowd’s energy,” he said.

Oklahoma City entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, tearing through the regular season on its way to a 68-14 record. But the Nuggets have Jokic. No bench, but Jokic. Denver also has Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., all key players on the 2023 championship team, and remain so today.

Can the Nuggets overtake Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 points) and the rest of the Thunder in their building? Well, that’s what Game 7s are all about.

“We just keep finding a way,” Nuggets coach David Adelman told reporters.