Thunder Defense Dominates in Slugfest to even the Series at 2-2

The Oklahoma City Thunder fought through some tough offense to grab the 92-87 win on Sunday against the Nuggets. Both defenses came to play on Mother’s Day in Denver as both Offenses struggled to get anything going in this crucial Game 4, but the Thunder’s ability to get to the line and find a little more offense in the clutch, plus some crucial misses at the line from the Nuggets was the difference in this crucial game in this series. The Thunder have now gotten back the Home-Court Advantage in this series. Let’s dive into this game a little bit deeper and look at OKC’s Win.

SGA’s Bounce Back Game 4 

The 2024-2025 MVP Favorite had a struggle in Game 3, but on Mother’s Day, SGA came to play in this game. Gilgeous-Alexander ended up finishing this game with 25 points, six rebounds and six assists. After the game, SGA said that “Every Game is a Do or Die at this point for us,” when interviewed by ESPN’s Jorge Sedano after the game. And that fourth quarter was a case of that mentality to a tee. SGA had nine fourth-quarter points in this game after only having three points in the fourth quarter of Game 3. It was good to see that SGA bounce back in a crucial moment in this game. 

Fatigue Catching Up with Jokic?

Nikola Jokic did have 27 points in this game to lead all scorers, but after a Game 3 where he shot 8-25 on the floor, he shot even worse this game with a 7-22 from the floor. Plus, in Game 2, he was 6-16 from the floor. It’s rare to see Jokic have three straight games that bad shooting-wise. Fatigue is a factor in Jokic’s play in this stretch of games in this series, but the Oklahoma City defense is making him earn every attempt with the rotations that their defense is doing at all times. 

Bad Shooting From Three From Both Teams

In Game 4, both teams shot 24% from three-point range, the Thunder shot 35.6% from the field, and the Nuggets shot 31.3%. This game was one of those old-school 90s-type game where both teams’ defenses would show the way, and the Thunder’s defense was just simply better in this game. The Nuggets can have a better shooting performance than what they did on Sunday, but credit the Thunder for having the depth to play a blitzing style of defense that makes offenses have to dig deep on every single possession. 

Final Thoughts

The Thunder’s depth was going to be the key in this series, and that showed in Game 4, which featured a lot of struggles at times on the offensive end of the floor. Look for the Nuggets to try to make some adjustments for an even more CRUCIAL GAME 5 ON TUESDAY NIGHT. This series is going to be a slugfest the rest of the way, and potentially, this series winner is going to be the favorite to win the Conference and be the representative of the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Total Apex Sports will have more NBA news throughout this upcoming week, so stay locked in and enjoy the content.