Shai Gilgeous-Alexander smiles Nugget fans after a loss of Thunder OT

During his walk, Denver-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander peeked the crowd into the crowd and smiled, the only visible teeth group in the middle of a series of bubbling Thunder players.

Jeer swollen in his direction. His ears started on her as if he had pressed his head against a call with his critics. If he didn't already know, the White Sea in Denver noticed its self -made, regrettable performance in game 3 on his way from the ground.

A missed opportunity. A typical butter -like goal scorer watched a fourth quarter slipped through his hands.

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was lucky to escape -“Basically, I was the one today and yet it was Gilgeous -Alexander who giggled when he went away from the ruins.

“Some fans mocked me,” said Gilgeous-Alexander after the 113-104 loss of Donna in Denver. “And I know how the game is going. I know what life is. It's easy to mock when you're up, and I never want to show you that I defeat or crazy or something.

“Nothing is written. The series is not over yet.”

Oklahoma City, which now corresponds to 2-1 in the semi -finals of the Western Conference, has curved the series of only one handful of possessions. Gilgeous-Alexander was reminded of the one he had on Friday.

He entered the fourth quarter with 8:31 in the regulation, a one-people game, then Okcs. With 5:19 to play, he started an unsuccessful couch 3 in a narrow window. The next property was a 22-foot 2 pointer with little separation. A little more than a minute later, SGA shot another stopback 3. Front edge. Two possessions later gilgeous-alexander missed this exact shot.

Gilgeous-Alexander ended the night with 18 points with 7-of-22 shooting (31.8%), his second-efficient performance of these last two post-seasons; Only his 4-of-13 show in a series opening win against Memphis was worse.

He went for 8 in fourth 1 and tried no shot in the extension.

According to ESPN, 18 of his 22 attempts were controversial on Friday. His teammates only shot 7 out of 24 (3 for 11 from Deep) on his passports.

“Some of these recordings felt good,” said SGA after the game. “More than a couple. In the end it felt like many jumper.

“As I see it, they live or die through their decisions,” he said later. “I died through my decisions tonight.”

Death came through the crucifixion of the locals Denver. By suffocating late games. The SGA, who got to know the viewers, was bound by the wrists, an additional knot on his shooting hand, which was forced to watch an experienced team his second exhausting victory of the series.

His squad's late crime was hardly similar to the team, which ended the regular season with a top three offensive. The thunder was exceeded in the fourth quarter and the extension by the Nuggets by 12. Denver surpassed OKC 11-2 in the extension.

Among the things that the thunder had at the beginning of the fourth was the rhythm of all-star Jalen Williams. He feels comfortable with every game in the series. He reached a climax on Friday with an excursion of 32 points, tactfully musces his way to spots and saved the thunder with a shot and bad drawing.

Jalen Williams had 26 of his 32 points and 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter when Gilgeous-Alexander closed the thunder at the Court in the fourth quarter. He only made two shots in the last 8:31 of the regulation.

When asked about the Thunder offensive process and the question of whether he believed that Williams could have received the ball more often on the track, coach Mark Daignult mentioned that “we can watch the film”, but that “we cannot press the same button repeatedly”.

Williams minimized it: “We have the best in the NBA.”

SGA quoted his curriculum vitae, a story with shaking my head, artistic sums and cold -blooded closures.

“I was in these situations and my number was called and I tried to play the games,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “(Williams) was incredible tonight. Sure, he could probably have touched the ball a little more. If I take these recordings, it's not even a discussion.”

The two MVP running colleagues of the game were aligned in more species than they expected. Jokics Night was the most third -party shooting game of his extensive playoff career.

It ended with 20 points and eight sales at 8-of-25 shooting and missed all 10 of his 3-point attempts, including a potential game winner at the end of the regulation.

In three games, Jokic has 21 sales of his 18 templates.

In order to insult inefficiency, Okc Denver smoked the offensive glass 19-5. The result? A massive 11-9 lead in points of the second chance.

The Nuggets ended the regular season in the NBA in 3-point rate. They shot five more than the thunder on Friday and made 40% of their experiments. Michael Porter Jr., who played with an apparently amputated shoulder and the touch of an angel, logged 21 points (5 out of 6 from Deep). He nailed enough cinematic recordings for a Disney end.

Despite the winning of the regulation of 41 points in this series, a team with 68 winners now finds his back on the wall. The height is high, as is the missions. Gilgeous-Alexander's sophisticated reach was enough to wrap his arms for thunder in the past few seasons. His hands entered these playoffs to close games. But they are twice wins that he and OKCs handle have escaped and move to a handful of late games.

“I don't think our self -confidence or our will fluctuated,” veteran Alex Caruso told The Oklahoman. “Obviously it is frustrating. This is probably the greatest emotion that you feel because you make all these efforts and work and feel like you are playing well enough to win and lose.

“I fully expect that we will come back to self -confidence and are ready to win game 4 with our chest.”

Maybe you will first see Gilgeous-Alexander's teeth.

Joel Lorenzi covers the thunder and the NBA for the Oklahoman. Do you have a story idea for Joel? It can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Joelxlorenzi. Support Joel's work and other Oklahoman journalists by buying a digital subscription from subcribe.oklahoman.com today.

Best-of-Seven series. All times are central time (CT)

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