Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & Co’s Biggest Worry Identified as Aaron Gordon Details Locker Room Mentality for OKC Series

Heading into last night’s Nuggets clash, the odds were stacked in Thunder’s favor to win. Not only did they have home court advantage, but they were also coming off an eight-day break following their dominant sweep against the Grizzlies. Meanwhile, the Denver team got no time to rest as they just finished a gruelling seven-game series against the Clippers on Saturday. But despite the clear edge, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. failed to capitalize on the opportunity. And it exposed their one glaring issue – Inexperience!

Well, the Thunder started out hot and dominated the Nuggets throughout the opening half. As the night progressed, they extended their lead to 14 points and it looked like they would cruise to an easy win. All they had to do was hold on to that lead. The Nuggets however, had other plans. In a miraculous turnaround, they went on a 19-6 run in the final minutes, finishing with an insane game-winning three by Aaron Gordon to steal one on the road. Just like that, the Thunder were down 0-1.

After the big win, Gordon highlighted how his team’s playoffs experience helped them in last night’s comeback, “We’ve been through a lot, this group. We’ve come from behind to win in plenty of games. It’s not necessarily what we try and do or what we wanna do. But we know that we’ve been in that position before and we can do it. So, we saw the timing, we saw the score and we know what we were trying to accomplish and we got it done tonight.” Of course, this Nuggets core won the championship only two seasons ago and are among the most tightly knit groups in the league. So, no adversity seems too big to them.

AG continued, “Yeah, I mean we know what it takes. We know what it takes to get there, to get to that mountain top, to get over the hump. And on the contrary, we know if we’re not giving what it takes, you know. If we’re not doing what we need to be, if we’re not holding ourselves to the standard of championship level.” In contrary, the Thunder are one of the most inexperienced teams in these playoffs. Sure, they finished the season as the top seed with 68 wins. But they achieved the same feat last year and ended up getting knocked out in the second round anyway. If they cannot close out games with big leads, their regular season record does not hold much meaning. Even Mark Daigneault understands where they went wrong last night.

Mark Daigneault takes accountability for Thunder’s failed strategy as Aaron Gordon highlights Nuggets’ locker room honesty

A massive example of the Thunder’s inexperience was their late game strategy. While they were up three points in the final minutes, Daigneault decided to intentionally foul the Nuggets and constantly send them to the free throw line to maintain the lead. The strategy worked for some time – until it didn’t. As Nikola Jokic and Co. cut down the lead to one, Chet Holmgren went to the charity stripes and missed both free throws. That gave the Nuggets an opportunity to run a fast break, which opened up a three for Gordon to take the lead. And he didn’t disappoint.

After the game, Daigneault addressed the failure of his late game strategy, “That’s usually our deal, to foul up 3… It’s worked out well in the past… We’ll continue to look at it… I don’t think that’s why we lost the game.” However, he took complete accountability, saving his players from criticism, “The fouling up 3, that’s on me.” Regardless of who should be blamed, last night’s outcome puts the Thunder in a tough spot. Especially against a team that exudes championship pedigree.

Another reason that makes this Nuggets squad so lethal is their insane chemistry. Having played together for several years, they understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, they are not afraid to hold each other accountable for their mistakes. That has been their locker room mentality throughout the year and remains so in this Thunder series, as Gordon said, “Absolutely. We hold each other accountable and we have high IQ guys on this team and high character guys on this team. So, when we’re speaking to each other, it comes from a place of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and compassion.” Sure enough, it makes David Adelman’s job easier, “Yeah, it allows DA to just focus on the Xs and Os and some of the pep.” Now the pressure is on the Thunder to win Game 2 at home, because another loss would put them in serious risk of suffering the same fate they did last year – A second round exit. Do you think they can even the series before heading to Denver?