The Nuggets were playing with house money on Wednesday night after stealing Game 1 in Oklahoma City on Monday, but they didn’t have to go for broke before tip-off. Denver’s wild comeback victory to open the series certainly seemed to get the attention of the Thunder, who came out like madmen in Game 2.
The Nuggets were down double digits before you could even blink. David Adelman did his best to stop the bleeding by calling three first-quarter timeouts, but it didn’t matter in the least. Denver was down by 24 after one quarter, down by 31 at halftime, and down by as many as 49 points en route to an all-encompassing beatdown loss, 149-106.
Nuggets threw in the towel early on Game 2
OKC deserves a ton of credit for the way they came out and dominated this game from the opening tip, but the Nuggets also pulled a no-show. They looked like a team that felt like they had already accomplished all of their goals in Oklahoma City and were more than happy to head back to Denver with the series tied 1-1.
Once things started going against the Nuggets early, they showed very little fight or desire to get back in the game. They mailed it in and got embarrassed, allowing a new NBA record 87 first-half points and seeing the starters pulled midway through the third quarter (which was probably too late).
Punting on a playoff game is a bold choice
It’s hard to be upset with a split in Oklahoma City, and at the end of the day, regardless of how bad the score was, Game 2’s blowout loss still only counts as one game. But still, this is a disappointing showing when the Nuggets really had a chance to take a stranglehold on this series.
Game 2 was an amazing opportunity to keep the pressure on the Thunder and see if they would get tight. Instead, the Nuggets met them with no resistance and allowed their whole team to get into a great rhythm.
Now, the Thunder are heading to Denver with a ton of momentum, feeling great about themselves, and thinking they can score on this Nuggets defense at will. After Game 1, they were questioning everything as they had just squandered the homecourt advantage they worked so hard to gain.
But the Nuggets let them get right back into their comfort zone and decided to get some extra rest ahead of Friday’s Game 3. Maybe that’s what’s best for this team, and maybe the Nuggets bounce back to hold serve in Ball Arena. But in a seven-game series against an elite team, punting on one of those games is an extremely questionable strategy.