Thunder suffocate Nuggets in second half of perplexing season opener

Bennett Durando, The Denver Post on Oct 23, 2026

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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Denver Nuggets got smacked in the face with a litmus test right out of the gate.

An Oklahoma City Thunder squad thirsty for vengeance on the world after a disappointing playoff exit. In Oklahoma City.

“They’re definitely a challenge for every team in the NBA,” Nikola Jokic said before Denver’s season opener, “so it’s good to see where we’re at.”

The final result: a 96-84 loss for the Nuggets on a night when the stars were dim for both sides.

The good: Denver unexpectedly looked the part of a good defensive team. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s all-time record streak of 20-point performances ended at 141. Aaron Gordon created and knocked down difficult shots at an All-Star level, if not quite as astonishingly as he did in a 50-point season opener last year. Christian Braun made hustle plays.

The Nuggets’ bench showed signs of life against arguably the league’s deepest team. Trevon Brazile grabbed 12 rebounds in his NBA debut. Alpha Diallo brought physicality and battled over screens in his. The Nuggets executed crashing scheme to perfection, at least early. They controlled the entire first half.

The bad: Jokic and Jamal Murray were completely bottled up. Jokic was limited to 13 points and on 5 of 19 shooting; Murray to six on 2 for 11 shooting, with Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso draping him. Cam Johnson left with a sprained right ankle late in the first half. His absence compromised Denver’s spacing. The Thunder clogged up the lane. The Nuggets got sped up and succumbed to turnovers, as so many visitors do at Paycom Center. They coughed it up 22 times, including six by Murray and five by DeMar DeRozan.

By the fourth quarter, Denver was discouraged and exhausted. Even its rebounding advantage faded. The Thunder sucked the life out of another challenger.

Johnson was officially listed as questionable after trainers evaluated him at halftime, but he didn’t return to the floor. Diallo started the second half in his place.

David Adelman revealed last week that he wants to test-drive some all-bench lineups this season, but the opponent and the injuries to his reserves seemed to be enough to dissuade him on opening night. He gradually rotated out his starters until Jokic was finishing the first quarter alongside four bench players. Two defenders remained on the court with him at all times — Gordon and Braun, Braun and Brazile, Brazile and Diallo.

Then it was Gordon back into the game to stagger for most of Jokic’s rest stint in the second quarter. The offense was disorganized at times. But Gordon and DeRozan drew a couple of shooting fouls to keep things steady. Marvin Bagley III stole another two points on the offensive boards. Ajay Mitchell wasn’t able to keep it steady for Oklahoma City at the other end. In a half mostly characterized by gritty defense and bricks from both teams, he turned it over three times. Murray and Johnson eventually replaced Gordon as the stagger.

The Nuggets improbably stretched their lead from three to eight in their first non-Jokic minutes of the season.

Braun, Diallo, and aggressive traps from Jokic near the sideline kept Gilgeous-Alexander in check. He finally scored his first point with 1:40 to play in the first half, and he went into the break with an 0-for-7 stat line from the field.

That changed with a bucket on Oklahoma City’s first possession out of halftime, but it didn’t mark the beginning of a red-hot turnaround. Instead, the Thunder chipped away while Murray and Jokic struggled to establish a rhythm. Braun and Brazile couldn’t buy a bucket from deep. Neither could Jokic when he floated out to the perimeter, trying to open things up.

A lead that never quite reached double digits slowly disappeared, until Chet Holmgren launched to meet Braun at the rim on a driving dunk attempt. It was an early block-of-the-year candidate, and it led to a game-tying alley-oop in transition.

All momentum screeched to a halt for the Nuggets. They ended the third frame on a 2-for-12 drought, scoring four points in the last 6:30. Gilgeous-Alexander pulled up for a transition 3-pointer before the buzzer to double the lead. Jokic drew a foul 40 feet from the basket on the quick inbound, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault won a challenge to get it overturned.

Denver retreated to the huddle fuming at the refs — Adelman hadn’t been granted a challenge in the first half because the crew said he waited too long. OKC went back to the huddle hoping to hurry back to the court for unfinished business.