JAKARTA - Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) returned to play at home when they hosted Denver Nugets at the Paycom Center in the semifinals of the NBA Western Region, Tuesday night local time (Wednesday 14 May morning WIB).
Thunder managed to bounce back from a 2-1 lead to equalize to 2-2, thanks to an incredible comeback in the fourth quarter of the game on Sunday, May 12 and is now eyeing the first lead in the series.
Despite being the youngest team in the NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder showed the mentality of the champion as they beat an experienced Denver Nuggets team with a narrow score of 92-87 at the Ball Arena in Game 4.
MVP candidate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, emerged as the winner by scoring 9 out of a total of 25 points in the fourth quarter, plus 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
After conceding 113 points in an overtime defeat the day before, coach Mark Daigneault was satisfied with his team's defensive performance, which managed to hold Nuggets to score their second-highest point throughout this playoffs.
Now Thunder is back at the Paycom Center, where they have won 10 wins from the last 12 matches, with two defeats only to the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver themselves.
On the other hand, Nuggets performed poorly in terms of firing accuracy in Game 4, only putting in 31% of the total shots.
Nikola Jokic, who previously only included 8 of 25 shots in Game 3, again struggled with an accuracy of 7 out of 22 shots. However, he still scored 27 points and became the top scorer in the match.
Denver had taken a lead of up to 8 points in the fourth quarter, but failed to keep the lead after scoring just 1 in 12 of their last three-point shot, and failing in 16 of 23 closing shots.
In fact, the day before Nuggets managed to lead 2-1 in the series after winning 113-104 through an overtime in Game 3.
But Denver's away performance in the playoffs this time was poor, only winning 2 wins from 5 away games, while conceding an average of 119 points per game.
Oklahoma City Thunder (6 last game): Menang - Win - Lose - Win - lose - lose - win
Denver Nuggets (6 last games): Lost - Win - Win - Lose - Win - Lose - lose
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Oklahoma City Thunder still couldn't play Serbian guard Nikola Topic, who missed the entire season due to a severe knee injury.
Jalen Williams, who performed outstanding with 32 points in Game 3, performed under performance in Game 4, scoring only 10 points with a shot accuracy of 15%. Even so, Williams remains Thunder' second-largest point scorer in the playoffs with an average of 21.0 points, behind Gilgeous-Alexander (27.6 points).
In the Denver Nuggets camp, coach David Adelman has not been able to field the DaRon Holmes center with an Achilles injury since pre-season.
Meanwhile, Tyson's forward Hunter is still doubtful after missing the last two games due to an ankle injury in Game 2. His status is still day-to-day ahead of Wednesday's match.
This match is predicted to be tight, with the momentum now in Thunder's hands who will play at home. Meanwhile, Nuggets must immediately improve their shot accuracy if they want to take the lead again in this series.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Jalen Williams, Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, Total Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr.
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