OKLAHOMA CITY — Nikola Jokic had 42 points and 22 rebounds, and Aaron Gordon hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Denver Nuggets a stunning 121-119 comeback win over the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series.
Oklahoma City, out of timeouts, missed a desperation heave as time expired.
Denver’s Russell Westbrook, who started his career with the Thunder, assisted on Gordon’s winning shot. It was Westbrook’s first playoff game in Oklahoma City as an opposing player.
Gordon finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds. It was his second gam-winner of these playoffs, the other coming on a buzzer-beating dunk in Game 4 of Denver’s first-round series against the LA Clippers.
Jamal Murray added 21 points for the fourth-seeded Nuggets, who stole the opener after closing out a seven-game series against the Clippers on Saturday. Murray and Jokic scored or assisted on 89 of the Nuggets’ 121 points (74%).
Denver’s opportunity came after Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren missed two free throws with the Thunder leading by a point.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists for the Thunder, who hadn’t played in more than a week after sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. Alex Caruso added 20 points, 6 assists and 5 steals.
Jokic picked up three fouls during a two-minute stretch in the third quarter after committing just one foul in the first half. He stayed in the game with the Thunder leading 73-64.
The Nuggets closed the gap to 90-85 by the end of the third quarter.
With the Thunder leading 104-95 and just under seven minutes remaining, Jokic elbowed Lu Dort in the head on a drive, and the play was reviewed. The play was ruled a flagrant 1 on Jokic – his fifth foul – and Dort made two free throws.
Denver spent the rest of the game closing the gap.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
