JULIAN Strawther came alive offensively in the second half as Denver Nuggets cruised to a 119-107 victory over Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.
With both teams tied at 80-apiece late in the third quarter, Strawther sparked the Nuggets 10-2 blast with two three-pointers and an inside hit followed by a layup by Jamal Murray to establish a 90-82 lead.
The Nuggets continued their run in the fourth quarter as the lead reached 109-93 after two free throws and a three-pointer by Strawther and two more freebies from Christian Braun.
The Thunder made their last push by cutting the deficit to 102-113 on a three-point play by Chet Holmgren but free throws from Nikola Jokic secured the victory for the Nuggets.
Strawther finished with 15 second half points, including three outside conversions, to go with three rebounds as the Nuggets evened up the best-of-seven second round series at 3-3.
Jokic led the Nuggets with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and eight assists, Murray battled illness to tally 25 markers, Braun had a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Michael Porter Jr. chipped in 10 points.
“They are hyper focused, hyper honest with one another, and I think more importantly, hyper honest with themselves. And I think if you are that way, you can bounce back from things very quickly,” said Nuggets head coach David Adelman.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the Thunder with 32 points, Chet Holmgren had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Luguentz Dort, Alex Caruso, and Cason Wallace ended with 10 markers apiece.
The winner-take-all Game 7 is scheduled on Sunday night (Monday morning in the Philippines) at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
“I’ve said this throughout the series, what [OKC] did this year is incredible. They’ve earned the home court on Sunday, and on the flip side, we’ve earned the right to go down there in an opportunity to try to beat them in Game 7,” Adelman said./PN
BOX SCORE:
DENVER 119 — Jokic 29, Murray 25, Braun 23, Strawther 15, Porter 10, Westbrook 8, Porter 5, Watson 4.
OKLAHOMA CITY 107 — Gilgeous-Alexander 32, Holmgren 19, Dort 10, Wallace 10, Caruso 10, Hartenstein 8, Jay. Williams 8, Jal. Williams 6, Wiggins 2, Joe 2, Dieng 0, Jones 0, Mitchell 0.
Quarterscores: 31-28, 58-61, 90-82, 119-107.
