Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points lift Thunder over Nuggets to take series lead

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 112-105 in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Despite 44 points from Denver’s Nikola Jokic, the Thunder outscored the Nuggets 34-19 in the fourth quarter to come out with the win.

Denver took a two-point lead into halftime and started to pull away in the third quarter, leading by as much as 12. The Thunder stormed back to tie the game at 92 and finally pulled away in the final minute off a three-pointer from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to take a 109-103 lead, holding on until the final buzzer.

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Oklahoma City’s depth prevails

Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in scoring with 31 points. He shot 12-for-23 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Jalen Williams had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City’s strength in the series continues to be its depth. The Thunder have five players averaging more than 10 points per game in the series, while the Nuggets only have three. The Oklahoma City bench outscored Denver’s bench 22-10 in Game 5.

Nuggets struggle

Jokic grabbed 15 rebounds on top of his 44 points for the Nuggets. It was his highest-scoring performance of the playoffs so far and his fifth-highest all season.

Despite a strong start, the Nuggets fell off in the fourth quarter. They Nuggets shot 5-for-21 from the field with four of the buckets coming from Jokic.

Jamal Murray added 28 points for the Nuggets but cooled off in the final period. Of his 28 points, only 4 came in the fourth quarter. His 27 field goal attempts were the most he’s had in the playoffs. Murray is shooting at 39.5% from the field this series, far below his regular season shooting percentage of 47.4%.

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Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. continues to struggle in this series. Porter has scored fewer than 10 points in four of the five games and is shooting at 28.6% from the field. His regular season shooting percentage was 50.4%.

Denver hosts Thursday night’s elimination game. The Nuggets are 4-2 at home in this year’s playoffs.

Coverage of Game 6 starts at 8:30 on ESPN.