With the Thunder holding an eight-point lead with just under nine minutes left to play, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic checked back in the game and immediately assisted a 3-pointer. With an OKC court consisting of a rookie, three second-year players and one third-year player, Denver was in position to come back.
But Gabriel Deck answered with a 3-pointer of his own, and the Thunder lead would never again sink lower than five. Oklahoma City took the 108-99 win, its first victory of the preseason, with its young players icing the game against the Nuggets starters.
It was an impressive and surprising performance from the group of bench players, many of whom were on the Thunder team that struggled so much without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander last year.
“In the last two to three minutes, we were just trying to slow the game down,” said rookie Josh Giddey, according to Thunder reporter Nick Gallo. “For us young guys to close it out, it’s a good learning experience.”
Darius Bazley, who had a team-high 16 points in 27 minutes, was among the six Thunder players who reached double-digit points.
The offense was efficient, but perhaps the biggest reason of the win was the defense that had a massive turnaround since the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
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