An unlikely hero powered the Nuggets to a Game 7 with a 119-107 win over the Thunder on Thursday night. Here are three key takeaways from Game 6.
No Straw man: For the majority of these playoffs, interim head coach David Adelman has waved his finger to a slew of different bodies sitting at the end of his bench, as the Nuggets have looked for any passable eighth-man minutes against a Thunder team teeming with fresh legs.
Introducing Julian Strawther, folks.
The Nuggets’ second-year wing was sidelined down the stretch of the regular season with injury, but seemed like a candidate at some point to offer helpful minutes, one of the only shooters (35% from 3in 2024-25) with upside on Denver’s bench. And he delivered, in a surprisingly vital spot, in Game 6.
Locked in a tie with OKC late in the third quarter, Strawther nailed a triple off a pass from Jamal Murray. A minute later, he spotted up from the corner and splashed another, slapping hands with a courtside fan. And as Adelman rode the hot hand in a huge show of trust in the fourth quarter, Strawther spotted up again from the right wing with four minutes left, Ball Arena holding a 13-point lead and smelling blood.
His wrist flicked true and Strawther plunged the dagger in Oklahoma City’s heart with a 15-point night.
Christian Braun is making himself some dough: Here’s a quick rundown of Christian Braun’s resume. High school state champion. College national champion. NBA champion as a rookie. Fourth-place finish in the NBA’s Most Improved Player voting this season.
With Thursday night, too, you can add “best player on the floor for first half of Nuggets-Thunder Game 6,” too.
He nailed three 3s in the first half to quell shooting woes, including a stepback to kick off a 12-0 Denver run shortly before the break. He’s been key as a relentless point-of-attack defender, from James Harden in Round 1 to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Round 2. And he out-hustled the Thunder on Thursday, with two third-quarter offensive boards and 11 total rebounds on the night, to go with five assists, three steals and a playoff-high 23 points.
Regardless of the Game 7 outcome, Braun can take all that ink, slam on the desk of interim GM Ben Tenzer (or whoever’s in that chair this summer), and demand a hefty raise. He’ll become eligible for an extension heading into next year with his rookie contract expiring come 2025-26. And Braun’s status should be high on the list of the Nuggets’ offseason priorities.
Nuggets win the foul dance: Physicality, undoubtedly, has been the undercurrent that’s swept through fan bases and players alike in this matchup. And for six games, the Thunder — one of the league’s lowest foul-drawing teams in 2024-25 — had largely ridden the wave. The Nuggets have bemoaned the lack of whistles for Nikola Jokic, as the star center tried to rediscover offense in multiple games by drawing contact.
In Game 6, though, the Nuggets lived to fight another day by saddling the foul artist with a taste of his own medicine. After Jokic drew a third foul on Gilgeous-Alexander with four minutes to play in the second half, Oklahoma City head coach Mark Daigneault gambled and left his star guard on the hardwood.
Jokic struck again, not two minutes later, drawing a fourth foul on Gilgeous-Alexander with an entire half left to play.
Up 58-50, Daigneault had to pull Gilgeous-Alexander. And the Nuggets immediately zipped to an 8-0 run to seize momentum before the break, a hugely important sequence in a Game 6 win.
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