AG injured, Joker bruised as OKC surges for win against Nuggets

Aaron Gordon went down with yet another calf injury, while Nikola Jokic banged his elbow as the Oklahoma City Thunder surged past the Denver Nuggets in the second half 127-103, led by NBA MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gordon left the game in the first quarter with a right calf issue—a part of his body that has plagued him all season long. The Nuggets starting power forward has been limited to 38 of Denver’s 64 games this season, missing two extended chunks of the year with a calf strain. He returned from an ankle injury Friday night but admitted to media members at his locker after the win that he wasn’t feeling great. There wasn’t a postgame update on Gordon.

This put more pressure on Jokic and other members of the three-time MVP’s supporting cast. Initially, Joker was determined and went straight at his former teammate Isaiah Hartenstein. The center was hot and going toe-to-toe for much of the first quarter with SGA after a 14-3 Nuggets run to start the game. But Hartenstein threw Jokic down on a hard foul, and the big man never looked quite the same.

Michael Malone shared postgame that Jokic’s elbow is fine, but the results of the game hinted that he was hurting. After the foul, Jokic was just 4-for-12 from the field, missing a couple of free throws as well.

Jokic has an ice pack wrapped around his right elbow in the locker room. https://t.co/8Wh50QiPkj

— Vinny Benedetto (@VBenedetto) March 9, 2025

The whistles were a topic all day long with Chet Holmgren getting into early foul trouble. Then, SGA took advantage of some weak whistles to propel OKC in the third quarter. The flashpoint came in the fourth quarter when Holmgren punched Russell Westbrook in the face and wasn’t called—leading to a transaction bucket the other way. Malone picked up a technical talking to the officials for the obvious non-call.

The play likely should have been a flagrant on Holmgren and would have resulted in three points the other way. The six-point swing in a five-point game started an avalanche for the Thunder—who sped to a 31-12 finish from there, with Homlgren playing a key role in that stretch.

Chet Holmgren whacks Russell Westbrook in the face on the drive in what SHOULD have been his 6th foul and the end of his evening…

… but the refs 🤐 their whistles#Nuggets @ #Thunder pic.twitter.com/INJymRP2CL

— Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) March 9, 2025

The Thunder began their four-quarter death punch, the only time they really out-played the Nuggets, with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench—but the star came back in to finish off the game and cap his contest with 40 points on 32 shots, with eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks. He missed nine threes but he wasn’t the only MVP candidate struggling to shoot.

Jokic missed eight shots from downtown in finhsing with 24 points on 23 shots with 13 rebounds, nine assists, three blocks and one steal. He was helped most by Michael Porter Jr.’s 24 points and 15 rebounds, who was very aggressive and strong all game despite his -33 on the floor trying to say he wasn’t. Christian Bruan added 19 points, while Jamal Murray had 17 on 17 shots in a rather ineffective outing.

Without Gordon, Malone turned to Jalen Pickett and relied a bit more on Zeke Nnaji, who were both fine. Peyton Watson, who just came back from an injury, was benched in the second half. And there was a tiny aspect of wondering if both these teams were holding onto some cards for a future meeting.

The next time they play is on Monday, finishing the season series. There’s a good chance the Nuggets and Thunder match up in the playoffs—with OKC leading the West at 53-11 and the Nuggets falling to a tie for second at 41-23.

Gordon’s absence was felt, SGA helped his MVP case and the Nuggets as a whole doing some good things like limiting turnovers while also did some bad things like missing almost half their free throws. Even with all of that the Nuggets have played two of the three best teams on back-to-back Sundays without Gordon nearly evenly for seven of eight quarters—a hint that the Mile High City crew can be great.