“In order to be the best, you need to be the best. So this will be a good challenge for them. But I am leaning towards Denver,” said Shaquille O’Neal when predicting the upcoming Nuggets-OKC playoff series. Nikola Jokic and co certainly pulled off a miracle by defeating the LA Clippers in a 7-game series. But the real challenge for them begins now. After all, the path to the Conference Finals is blocked to them by the team with the 68-14 regular season win record, aka the best of this tournament. Therefore, unlike Shaq, not everyone can stake their odds on the Nuggets. Even David Adelman would have felt a bit worried after his close friend gave him a reality check.

In the aftermath of the Nuggets’ 120-101 win in Game 7, Adelman spoke at a postgame press conference. During the same time, he discussed the upcoming Conference Semi-Finals by stating that the team had to adjust from one day to the next, and every second game is different than the first. Facing a different team is a thing in itself, especially if it is the Oklahoma City Thunder. As he continued speaking, Adelman made a goofy revelation by stating, “I’ll say this about them, they’re the best team in the NBA, throughout this season. And I had a really good friend, the other day, make me feel awful. I said ‘Yeah, if we win this series, we gotta play a team at 68 and 14’. He said ‘Nah man, they’re 72 and 14’. I said ‘Ok, appreciate that, bro’”.

In reality, OKC did finish 68–14—each NBA team plays 82 games, not 86. The joke was that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s squad had also won the last 4 games of their 2023-24 regular season. For them to then come back from the previous regular season and then kick off the new regular season with 7 consecutive wins speaks volumes. As the famous quote says, “True friends will speak truth to you even if it’s hard to hear”. Especially when one of the friends happens to be the interim head coach of a team attempting to make its way through a playoff series.

The Denver Nuggets have won only 4 of the last 10 games it has played against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Furthermore, OKC took just four games to reach the Western Conference semifinals series, while the Nuggets needed all seven. Other than that, however, both teams split four games this season, were 8-8 since 2021-22, and, when it comes to head-to-head playoffs, they have won two series each. In the end, it will come down to which team can take care of certain things on the court.

“So, we know what this is like. Their defense is so impactful. They turn you over. They have great 1-on-1 players in depth, very good coaching staff, they set some up for, you know,” Adelman added. “But you know, you got to be confident going into it, you know, that they know they’ve had the rest. We will be smart about it, do the best we can to keep guys off their feet”.

Confidence and smartness may not be enough to put the Denver Nuggets on top. After all, if Nikola Jokic knows something, it is that his upcoming rivals have already begun training.

Nikola Jokic believes OKC is playing even on day-offs: “They will stay ready.”

Similarly to David Adelman, Nikola Jokic also participated in a post-game Q&A session. After all, he was the center of attention after the game, having recorded yet another double-double by scoring 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. Plus, who better to talk to about the Nuggets’ chances against OKC than the team’s highest average scorer? During the same time, a reporter asked whether Jokic feels the Nuggets have an advantage, since the squad had been playing this whole week, while Oklahoma is going to get 8-9 days off.

Without thinking for long, Jokic replied, “I’m pretty sure that they’re playing, and I…. Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re playing between each other. So they will stay ready. They have a great coaching staff, and I’m pretty sure that they keep them in check”.

Oklahoma City clinched the West’s No. 1 seed on April 14 and then swept Memphis in four games, granting them roughly eight full days without a playoff contest. During that stretch, the Thunder logged their “best practice of the week” under Coach Mark Daigneault, emphasizing high‑intensity work and cohesion. They also ran frequent intra‑squad scrimmages, keeping veterans and role players alike sharp rather than idle.

“I mean, a team that who is pushing the pace, team who plays a lot of energy, defensive, offensive, who is, um, handsy playing passing lanes, a lot of deflection, a lot of steals, attacking the glass, you know, it’s, um, they’re number one seed for a reason” said Jokic.

The OKC-Nuggets series will be more than just a fight for the Conference Finals. After all, both Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have dominated the top-two spots on the MVP ladder since the beginning of the season. The debate between who deserves the honor more will certainly reach a fever pitch as the series progresses. Oklahoma City reportedly holds a plethora of versatile, defensive-minded role players. However, the duo of Jokic and Jamal Murray can circumvent that, as they have countless other times.

Do you believe that Nikola Jokic and co have the potential to get the better of their top-seeding rivals? Or, will the Nuggets fail to make it past the Conference Semi-Finals for the 2nd year in a row? Let us know in the comments section down below.