Denver Nuggets – Oklahoma City Thunder · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 5 May 2025

DEN121–119OKC

Is it worth watching?

Recommended

It was more exciting than 71% of NBA games since 2017

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ OKC winsDEN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when OKC leads and falls when DEN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Nikola Jokić decided it, the Denver Nuggets player with the most points (42, with 22 rebounds and 6 assists; +10 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Aaron Gordon's (+16). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Oklahoma City Thunder 119-121 Denver Nuggets (May 5, 2025) was hit by Aaron Gordon: a three-pointer with 2.8 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Denver Nuggets up 121-119. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Oklahoma City Thunder 119-121 Denver Nuggets (May 5, 2025) was a 10-0 run by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter (from 4:07 to 1:42), from 16-24 to 26-24. The Denver Nuggets' best was a 9-0 run in the third quarter (from 4:14 to 3:29), from 68-82 to 77-82.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Aaron Gordon makes 25-foot three point shot (Russell Westbrook assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Aaron Gordon decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 2.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 5 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Gordon decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

5 May 2025 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401769820:775; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · DEN

Murray · Jokic · Braun · Gordon · Westbrook

Closing lineup · OKC

Gilgeous-Alexander · Williams · Dort · Holmgren · Caruso

Q1Q2Q3Q4

DEN

Jamal Murray

44′ · +12

Nikola Jokic

42′ · +10

Christian Braun

40′ · +15

Aaron Gordon

39′ · +16

Michael Porter Jr.

24′ · -15

Russell Westbrook

30′ · +4

Peyton Watson

15′ · -22

Julian Strawther

6′ · -10

OKC

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

40′ · -16

Jalen Williams

38′ · -10

Luguentz Dort

30′ · -25

Isaiah Hartenstein

29′ · +2

Chet Holmgren

28′ · -14

Isaiah Joe

12′ · 0

Alex Caruso

26′ · +13

Cason Wallace

21′ · +15

Jaylin Williams

3′ · -2

Aaron Wiggins

14′ · +19

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. DEN and OKC.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Porter, Braun, Gordon, and Jokic played 16.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Murray, Braun, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 15.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 24 points.
Murray, Braun, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 5.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Hartenstein, Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Holmgren, and Williams played 10.2 minutes together.
Caruso, Hartenstein, Wiggins, Williams, and Wallace played 7.7 minutes together.
Caruso, Gilgeous-Alexander, Joe, Holmgren, and Wallace played 5.8 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Oklahoma City Thunder lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

▸See every lineup of the game

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Strawther, Watson, Westbrook, and Gordon played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Porter, Strawther, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Murray, Porter, Watson, Westbrook, and Gordon played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Murray, Porter, Braun, Watson, and Jokic played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Porter, Braun, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Caruso, Hartenstein, Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, and Williams played 3.8 minutes together.
Caruso, Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Holmgren, and Williams played 3.7 minutes together.
Hartenstein, Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Joe, and Williams played 3.7 minutes together.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Wiggins, Holmgren, and Williams played 3.1 minutes together.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Williams, Williams, and Wallace played 1.8 minutes together.
Caruso, Hartenstein, Gilgeous-Alexander, Joe, and Wallace played 1.4 minutes together.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Wiggins, Holmgren, and Wallace played 1.3 minutes together.
Caruso, Hartenstein, Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Williams played 1.3 minutes together.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Jamal Murray covered 5.34 km, more than anyone in the game.

Nikola Jokić touched the ball 112 times, a game high.
Nikola Jokić made 67 passes, a game high.
Chet Holmgren defended 10 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 2.
Nikola Jokić had 31 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Denver Nuggets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jamal Murray	5.34	6.7	85	58
Christian Braun	5.23	7.3	45	34
Aaron Gordon	4.75	6.8	67	42
Nikola Jokić	4.62	6.0	112	67
Russell Westbrook	3.41	6.3	46	26
Michael Porter Jr.	2.80	6.5	22	13
Peyton Watson	1.90	7.3	19	14
Julian Strawther	0.69	7.1	5	4

Oklahoma City Thunder

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jalen Williams	4.70	6.9	72	46
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	4.55	6.4	92	56
Isaiah Hartenstein	3.83	7.4	49	35
Luguentz Dort	3.77	7.0	21	11
Chet Holmgren	3.43	6.8	46

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokić deflected 3.8 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 4 of 388 in the league.
Russell Westbrook deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 46 of 388 in the league.
Jamal Murray recovered 0.7 loose balls per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 49 of 388 in the league.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Chet Holmgren defended 6.9 shots at the rim per game over his 32 games, and opponents made 18 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 1 of 138 in the league.
Jaylin Williams drew 0.26 charges per game over his 47 games.
He ranks 5 of 388 in the league.
Cason Wallace deflected 3.6 passes per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 5 of 388 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have won 41 of their 81 games against the Denver Nuggets.

41-40record of the Oklahoma City Thunder · NBA 2008-09 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

3-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 2008-09 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

18.203

100% of capacity

Paycom Center · Oklahoma City

Series

Game 1

Conference semifinals

OKC 4-3

Scoring

240

combined points

22.5 above the season average (217.5)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

17 calls reviewed0 no admitted errors