Most of Wednesday’s battle between the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder looked like a repeat of their opening-night matchup. The Thunder controlled that one from start to finish, and they led the Nuggets by as many as 16 points on Wednesday. But things began to shift midway through the third quarter. A Russell Westbrook 3-pointer kicked off a 30-14 Denver run that saw the third quarter end in a 95-95 tie.
The two sides exchanged blows from there, and even when the Nuggets got the undefeated Thunder on the ropes with an eight-point lead and only 100 seconds remaining, Oklahoma City did not intend to take its first loss quietly.
The Thunder roared back behind Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso. Peyton Watson had a chance to ice the game at the foul line with 16 seconds to go, but missed both. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took the ball down 124-122 hoping to tie the game, and he seemingly had a clean angle on a floater, but Watson met him in the lane and redeemed himself with the game-saving block.
Entering Wednesday, no team beaten the Thunder or even finished within single digits of them in a game. Now the Nuggets have handed them their first loss, and the title of “last undefeated team in the NBA” belongs to the 9-0 Cleveland Cavaliers, who defeated the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and have a marquee game coming on Friday against the Golden State Warriors.
Watson’s big play means quite a bit in context. Denver’s young players have become the common scapegoat for their early-season struggles, especially having lost starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic in free agency over the summer.
But Denver needed its young players on Wednesday. With both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon sidelined due to injury, the Nuggets needed major minutes out of Watson, Julian Strawther and Christian Braun. They delivered, and the Nuggets have quietly won five of their past six.