The balance of most NBA games hangs on a razor’s edge. All season long, the Thunder has tried to win on the margins, through hustle and extra effort - through fast break points, rebounding, second chances and points in the paint.
On Friday night, the Thunder won all of those mini-battles within the big one against the Denver Nuggets. It didn’t matter. The Thunder’s Northwest Division rival knocked down 14 three-pointers and made 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) midrange jump shots, typically looks that NBA teams make at closer to a 40 percent clip.
If the Thunder had been giving wide open jumpers, there would have been an obvious course correction to tighten up the defense.