After a stressful fourth quarter that saw the game tied during multiple portions of the game, the shorthanded Oklahoma City Thunder eventually fall short to the Denver Nuggets, 113-107.
This game playing out as close as it was despite the Thunder being as depleted as it was — the team only had nine players available with eight of them playing extensive G League minutes this season — speaks more about the Nuggets than the Thunder. Congrats on the Thunder for making this a game, but the Nuggets were looking down a barrel of a second straight embarrassing home loss to one of the worst teams in the league missing its top-six players. Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic carried his team to a win with a 35 point, 12 rebound and eight assist performance.
Meanwhile, the Thunder were able to spread the wealth around as the team had six of its eight players score in double digits. In reality, the Thunder only had eight guys available for the majority of the game as Darius Bazley exited in the first half due to a knee sprain.
Even if the bigger story of this game is the Nuggets failing to put away a glorified G League team, the shorthanded Thunder deserve recognition for playing as well it did in Denver for the second time this season. The Thunder have historically struggled playing in Denver, but that was not the case this season as both games were split. Let’s take a look at player grades.
Theo Maledon: A
Theo Maledon was once again brilliant as he finished with 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. This comes off the heels of a season-high 25 points performance against the Orlando Magic last game. With Josh Giddey and potentially Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out for the remaining eight games, Maledon is going to continue to get a ton of minutes.
Aleksej Pokusevski: A+
Aleksej Pokusevski continues to play well since the beginning of February as he finished with 17 points on an extremely efficient 5-of-8 shooting along with five assists and five rebounds. Pokusevski has scored less than nine points twice in just the past 17 games. Pokusevski was also able to get to the free throw line as he went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Just like other players, the amount of players out right now could really help out someone like Pokusevski as he gets a lot more minutes and reps as a top scoring option that he would usually not get with a fully-healthy squad.
Tre Mann: B-
Tre Mann was able to contribute with 15 points but came on 5-of-15 shooting along with five turnovers. It was a decent showing for Mann as his backcourt partner Maledon was the better of the two.
The highlight of the game for Mann came in the fourth quarter, when Jokic landed on him after a collision. Jokic would get called for a foul and the call would irate him and cause him to complain while standing over a hurting Mann. It was just a bit odd to see that the rest of the team just stood there and let that happen; one would think that someone on the floor would tell Jokic that it’s not cool to stand over someone like that who is clearly in some level of pain. But then again, this team is super young and full of players trying to carve out an NBA career, so confronting the reigning MVP could have been a little bit too much to ask out of them.
Lindy Waters III: B+
Lindy Waters III’s three-point shooting helped him get to 14 points and he went 4-of-10 from deep. Waters III is currently the best three-point shooter on the team, so him being able to let out 10 attempts from three is a positive for the team. Waters III agreed with the sentiment after the game as he said he is gaining more confidence with his outside shot as time passes on.
“With each game that goes by, with more attempts — makes or misses — just gets me more comfortable,” said Waters III. “It’s fun. It’s a great organization, great environment.”
Isaiah Roby: A-
Isaiah Roby had an efficient scoring night as he finished with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Roby also added seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Considering who he was going up against, it was a nice game for Roby.
Aaron Wiggins: B-
Aaron Wiggins finished the game with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Out of all the bench players, Wiggins played the most minutes this game with 30.
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