OKLAHOMA CITY — As the third quarter bled into the final 12 minutes of a dynamic Game 5 between the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder, Nuggets interim coach David Adelman took superstar Nikola Jokić aside and asked him a direct question.
How do you feel? Adelman said. Can you play through the rest of the game?
Jokić nodded his head, and he assured his coach that he had the energy needed to forego his normal second-half rest and stay in the fray. Like a trainer checking his boxer, Adelman took one last gaze into Jokić’s eyes. He decided to keep one of the best players in the world in what was the most important game of the series.
In the moments following Denver’s 112-105 loss to the Thunder at a packed and loud Paycom Center, Adelman owned that decision to play Jokić the entire second half. The Nuggets would run out of gas down the stretch. Denver would surrender a nine-point lead with 10 minutes remaining, as a younger and fresher Oklahoma City displayed more quickness and energy down the stretch to grab a 3-2 series advantage.
“If fatigue was a factor, it’s on me,” Adelman said.
Tuesday night marked the fourth time Jokić has played an entire second half of a postseason game. The Nuggets have lost three of those games. In three of those games, the Nuggets have held the lead heading into the fourth quarter. The rationale is sound, and Adelman’s decision certainly made sense.
Denver held an 86-78 lead heading into the final 12 minutes on Tuesday night. Jokić was in the middle of an all-time playoff performance, one that would see him finish with 44 points to go along with 15 rebounds and five assists. The Nuggets were getting almost anything they wanted offensively.
Most importantly, teams that win Game 5 typically go on to win the series. This was a Game 5, on the road, that the Nuggets had a hold of. Adelman wanted his best player on the floor because if Denver finished off the game, it would have the chance to close out OKC on Thursday night at the friendly confines of Ball Arena.
Instead, the Nuggets will play that game facing elimination. And they will play that game on the heels of playing Jokić 44 minutes, shooting guard Christian Braun 43 minutes and point guard Jamal Murray 42 minutes. Murray also played the entire fourth quarter. When asked about fatigue, Murray shook his head and emphatically said it wasn’t a factor.
“I play better when I’m tired,” Murray said.
His words are admirable. But the evidence of fatigue in the fourth quarter is too heavy to ignore. Oklahoma City outscored Denver 34-19 in the final 12 minutes. Down the stretch, the Nuggets couldn’t come up with a defensive stop when it mattered. The Nuggets missed a snowball of wide-open 3-point looks, and any one or two of those shots could have made a difference had they fallen.
The heavy legs prevented Denver from defending with the zest it showed in the first three quarters. Russell Westbrook and Michael Porter Jr. went a combined 2 of 14 from the field, which placed a heavier burden on Jokić and Murray. And when the Nuggets needed those stops and buckets, they weren’t able to find them.
In Sunday’s Game 4, a 92-87 Oklahoma City win, the Nuggets held an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. That’s what made Tuesday night’s fourth quarter all the more devastating. If the Nuggets finish either of those games, they would be in control of the series.
Denver’s been playing on short rest for practically this entire postseason. The Nuggets needed seven games to beat the LA Clippers in the first round. They turned around on a travel day to start the second round series against the Thunder. This series has gone every other day. But there are two days between Games 6 and 7, which means if Denver can somehow find a way to win on Thursday, it can get a much-needed day off before the potential deciding game in OKC.
“I think it’s frustrating when you have this kind of game and you have it in your hands, and we let it slip away in a matter of minutes,” Murray said. “We felt good about where we were. We felt like we took good shots at the end. I felt like our defense wasn’t up to par. We had some issues executing; we have to stop giving up wide-open shots.”
What’s also frustrating for the Nuggets was wasting that Jokić performance, without a doubt his best game of the postseason. He shot 17 of 25 from the field. He dominated the rebounding battle. He made five 3-pointers. He turned back into the three-level scorer that he’s always been. More than that, he controlled the pace of the game. Almost every offensive possession from Denver ran through him, and he made the correct decision almost every single time.
NIKOLA HOW?? pic.twitter.com/e50yOQFQ3b
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 14, 2025
However, like almost every other game in this series, Game 5 was decided on the margins. When Lu Dort got hot and made a trio of contested 3-point looks, those points got the Thunder back into the game and gave their main guys the energy to close it out. In Game 4, role players Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace hit the big fourth-quarter 3s for OKC.
The Nuggets have done a good job of canceling out the star power of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. They have done a terrific job of making this a competitive series and exposing some of Oklahoma City’s roster flaws. But you can’t coach depth. And right now, the Thunder have it and the Nuggets don’t. That depth has been the difference in this series.
“The only game that hasn’t been close is Game 2,” Jokić said. “Every other game has been interesting. People said we were not supposed to win Game 1. In Game 3, we didn’t play well, but we won the game. Every game is different. We’ve had chances. We were up 12 tonight, but we couldn’t finish. We couldn’t make enough shots.
“I think we have a chance in Game 6. We will show up and we will play our best.”
(Photo of Nikola Jokić, Isaiah Hartenstein and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Alonzo Adams / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)