The Denver Nuggets have stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 to take a 1-0 series lead as the Western Conference top seed lost home court advantage on Tuesday.
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Oklahoma City on multiple occasions looked on track to cruise past the Nuggets, who were backing up off a two-day break having outlasted the Clippers in an epic seven-game series.
The Thunder, meanwhile, swept the Grizzlies and were well-rested for Tuesday’s game.
With a far superior bench, led by Alex Caruso, Oklahoma City looked in a comfortable position and had multiple 10-point leads throughout the game.
But the Nuggets finished the second, third and — crucially — fourth quarters stronger.
Despite Denver’s valiant efforts, the Thunder appeared to be on the verge of closing it out with a 111-101 lead and less than three minutes on the clock.
Instead, the Nuggets once again rallied to get it to 119-116 with 11 seconds left on the clock.
With no timeouts left, the Nuggets looked to be in serious trouble as they had substituted Nikola Jokic out to put Peyton Watson in to try and get a stop on the defensive end.
But they were bailed out as Oklahoma City inexplicably fouled Aaron Gordon instead of just allowing the play to run out, which would have meant Jokic wouldn’t have been able to get into the game.
Instead, Gordon went on to make both free throws and Jokic re-entered the contest as the Nuggets fouled Chet Holmgren, who missed both free throws to leave it at 119-118.
There were still 7.1 seconds on the clock as the Nuggets pushed the pace and Gordon sunk the late 3-pointer to pull off a stunning victory.
Caruso was huge off the bench for the Thunder with 20 points, five steals and two blocks while Gilgeous-Alexander led the way on 33 points.
Meanwhile, Jokic — the defending MVP — had seven turnovers but they were more than offset by his 42 points and 24 rebounds.
Denver interim coach David Adelman paid tribute to the all-round effectiveness of Gordon, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
“I’m looking at ball-handling, responsibilities, leadership — he is a Denver Nugget, the soul of our team,” Adelman said.
“So cool to see him have a moment like that.”
Gordon said the Nuggets’ calmness under pressure had helped them close out the win.
“A lot of guys stepped up,” he said.
“We had poise and a belief that we were going to win no matter the circumstances.”
KNICKS RALLY TO STUN CELTICS IN HUGE COMEBACK
Earlier, Jalen Brunson scored 29 points as the New York Knicks overturned a 20-point deficit to stun the Boston Celtics 108-105 in overtime in their opening NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series clash on Tuesday.
Brunson — the 40-point hero of New York’s series-clinching win over Detroit last week — was once again in superb form as the Knicks silenced Boston’s TD Garden with a remarkable second-half fightback.
According to Keerthika Uthayakumar, the 20-point lead was the largest the Celtics had blown in the playoffs since at least 1997, while their 45 missed three-pointers (15-60) was a playoff record, per Keith Smith.
Brunson’s 29 points included five-of-nine from three-point range, with OG Anunoby also getting hot with 29 points including six three-pointers.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum led Boston’s scoring with 23 points apiece.
“It was a great team win,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said afterwards.
“We started well, then we fell into a hole and then we fought our way out and then we made tough plays down the stretch,” Thibodeau added.
Second seeds Boston, the reigning NBA champions, looked poised to get the best-of-seven series off to a winning start after pulling into a 72-52 lead early in the third quarter.
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But Boston’s double-digit cushion was whittled away after Anunoby and Brunson combined for 21 points in the third quarter as the Celtics scoring dried up.
Al Horford settled Boston’s nerves with a three-pointer to close the quarter that left the Celtics up by nine points at 84-75.
The Knicks opened the fourth quarter though with quick three-pointers from Miles McBride and Anunoby either side of a Karl-Anthony Towns layup to close to within one point.
New York pulled level at 86-86 with just under eight minutes left in the quarter before a run of 11 points from Brunson helped New York sweep into a 97-91 lead.
Brunson had a golden chance to win it in regulation with the score tied at 100-100 but missed a layup with three seconds remaining.
Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Towns then took over in overtime to seal a gutsy win for the Knicks.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said lax defense in the second half had cost his team dearly.
“We left some of their good shooters open,” Mazzulla said.
“There’s detail stuff that we have to be better at.”
Game two of the series takes place in Boston on Thursday.
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