The Oklahoma City Thunder let Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series slip away. Fans and media members blamed OKC’s questionable late-game strategy for the crunch-time collapse.
A pair of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander free throws had the Thunder up 117-114 over the Denver Nuggets with 13.2 seconds left at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. Instead of forcing the Nuggets to burn some clock, the Thunder intentionally fouled Nikola Jokic coming out of a Denver timeout. The Joker sank both free throws.
On the Thunder’s ensuing possession, Gilgeous-Alexander broke free for an uncontested dunk to bring the lead back to three. OKC then opted to intentionally foul once again as Aaron Gordon stepped up to make two clutch foul shots. The entire sequence burned just 3.1 seconds off the clock.
When it was Chet Holmgren’s turn to shoot free throws, the 23-year-old center clanked both of them off the rim. Gordon made the Thunder pay with a game-winning three-pointer in transition, completely silencing the OKC crowd (video here).
Several fans and reporters criticized the Thunder for their extreme implementation of their intentional foul strategy when up three. Many noted that OKC fouled too quickly, which left plenty of time on the clock for Gordon’s game-winner.
Why did OKC foul while being up by 3 so early?? The coach put just as much pressure on his own players to hit FTs as the other team. What a colossal failure by the Thunder to lose this game in such a comical manner.
— Jim Park🏀🌌 (@Sheridanblog) May 6, 2025
Absolutely deserved loss by the Thunder.
— Cameron Richardson (@therichreport) May 6, 2025
So dumb to intentionally foul and allow no clock to run down. Playing the foul game in the playoffs doesn’t work when you are up.
That’s what the Thunder get for continuing to foul while winning in the last minute. If they don’t keep purposely fouling the worst that could’ve happened could’ve been overtime. But they chose a dumb strategy and missed their free throws and lost on a game winning shot🤷🏾♂️
— BB_Vaughn1 (@BBVaughn1) May 6, 2025
Denver trailed in Game 1 from the start of the second quarter up to the last few seconds of the final period. The Nuggets only led for all of 3.1 seconds in the second half, but their lead came when it mattered most.
The Thunder had the best defensive rating in the NBA by a wide margin, both in the regular season and through the first round of the playoffs. With several defensive demons in their lineup, there’s no team in the league more equipped to get a stop to win a game.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault may need to rethink his late-game strategy if his team faces a similar situation later in the postseason.
