On Wednesday, the Denver Nuggets faced a red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder squad. The top-seeded Thunder did not hold back as they had a dominating 149-106 win over the Nuggets. There was no answer from Denver as they were outscored in all four quarters. Now that the series is tied 1-1, former NBA star Charles Barkley reveals his thoughts on how the Nikola Jokic-led team should respond.
Jokic, the Nuggets’ leader, had difficulty shooting the basketball. He finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The three-time MVP shot a poor 37.5 percent from the field and didn’t have control of the game as he was fouled out in three quarters.
Veteran star Russell Westbrook led the team in scoring with his 19 points off the bench. Westbrook played 19 minutes but it wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding.
Following their abysmal performance, TNT’s Barkley revealed how the Nuggets should respond in Game 3. According to him, the third game of their series is a must-win for Denver.
“Game 3 is a must-win for the Nuggets,” Chuck said. “If they win Game 3, the pressure switches to Oklahoma City… I think Game 3 is huge for them.”
"Game 3 is a must-win for the Nuggets" 🗣️
Chuck on how Denver needs to respond after the Game 2 blowout pic.twitter.com/U56gDrybUJ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 8, 2025
They couldn’t prevent the Thunder from demolishing them in the semifinals. OKC set an NBA playoff record for first-half points with 87. The previous record was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
Game 3 will be at Ball Arena, the home of the Denver Nuggets. They’ll have a home-court advantage on Friday.
Denver Nuggets forward believes the Thunder’s physical play on Jokic gets overlooked
Following their defeat, Denver Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon talked to the media about the fouls they’re getting. According to Gordon, he thinks the officials are overlooking the physical contact the Thunder is doing against Jokic.
“They’re calling the second foul almost every time. They’re fouling Joker first, then Joker’s reactionary, and they do get the second guy a lot of times. They’re fouling him. Point blank, period, throughout the game,” Gordon said.
“You can’t call every foul or you’ll be calling a foul every single play. But they’re fouling him.”
According to the 6-foot-8 forward, he expects Jokic to play through contact in the next games. Gordon also expects the team to be more competitive and assert physicality against the Thunder. He also urges his teammates to play through the physicality and not expect everything that has to do with physicality to be called.
Aaron Gordon: "They're fouling him. Point blank, period."
"They're calling the second foul almost every time. They're fouling Joker first, then Joker's reactionary, and they do get the second guy a lot of times." pic.twitter.com/vWvaXtNins
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) May 8, 2025
Like Jokic, Gordon didn’t have the best game scoring. He had 10 points on 25 percent shooting from the field.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
