Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder
roll into West finals with 125-93 rout of Nuggets in Game 7
[May 19, 2025]
By CLIFF BRUNT
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder grew up on Sunday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, Jalen Williams added 24
and the Thunder rolled into the Western Conference finals, beating
the Denver Nuggets 125-93 in Game 7.
The top-seeded Thunder will host the sixth-seeded Minnesota
Timberwolves starting Tuesday. It’s Oklahoma City’s first trip to
the conference finals since 2016.
Oklahoma City went a league-best 68-14 in the regular season,
becoming the youngest team to win at least 60 games. To back up
their status as the best team in the league, the Thunder had to get
past three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and a Denver squad that won the NBA
title in 2023 and beat the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games in
the first round this year.
Coach Mark Daigneault said his players handled the pressure well.
“There’s not many games, you wake up in the morning and you know
that you’re going to remember the game for the rest of your life,
and Game 7 is one of them,” he said. “To be able to focus through
that and perform the way these guys did today was very impressive.”
Jokic had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the
Nuggets. Aaron Gordon, a key player for Denver throughout the
playoffs who hit the winner in Game 1 against the Thunder, started
despite a strained left hamstring. He had eight points and 11
rebounds in 24 minutes.
“What he played with today, I don’t know many people that would even
attempt to go out there and run up and down,” Nuggets interim coach
David Adelman said. “And he did it in Game 7 against Oklahoma City
on the road. That that was one of most incredible things I’ve ever
seen. He was extremely close to not playing. I was surprised.”
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Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic, from left, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon,
DeAndre Jordan and Christian Braun, right, sit on the bench watching
play against the Oklahoma City Thunder late in the second half of
Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball
playoffs, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle
Phillips)
The Thunder fell behind by 11 in the first quarter,
but took the lead early in the second. Oklahoma City outscored
Denver 39-20 in the period to take a 60-46 lead at the break.
Gordon was called for a flagrant-1 foul for elbowing Gilgeous-Alexander
in the face early in the third quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander made both
free throws, and then Williams hit a short jumper to give Oklahoma
City a 66-46 lead.
Cason Wallace got loose on a fast break and dunked on Jokic to put
the Thunder up 78-57, sparking delirious roars from the crowd.
Oklahoma City cruised from there and now hopes to make another leap.
“We’re better now than we were at the beginning of the series, and
it’s because of them,” Daigneault said. “They pushed us to the
limit.”
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