Oklahoma City Thunder are back on home court when they welcome the Denver Nuggets to the Paycom Center in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Tuesday night.
The Thunder fought back from the brink of a 3-1 deficit to level the series with a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback on Sunday and will look to take the lead for the first time in the semis.
Match preview
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Despite being the NBA's youngest team, the Oklahoma City Thunder showed their mettle on Sunday when they rolled past an experienced Denver Nuggets side 92-87 in Game 4 at Ball Arena.
MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made the difference for the youthful Thunder side in crunch time, knocking down nine of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, to go with six rebounds and six assists.
Having allowed 113 points in the overtime defeat one night earlier, head coach Mark Daigneault will be pleased with his side's display on defence, where they held the Nuggets to their second-fewest points in the playoffs.
Oklahoma City Thunder now return to the PayCom Center, where they are on a run of 10 wins from their most recent 12 games, with the two defeats coming at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver respectively.
The Nuggets endured their poorest shooting display of the playoffs on Sunday when they shot 31% from the field in the defeat against OKC at the Ball Arena.
Having missed 17 of 25 shot attempts in Game 3 one night earlier, Nikola Jokic struggled to make shots once again as he went 7-of-22 from the field, but the 30-year-old finished with a game-high 27 points to keep the Nuggets in the fight.
Denver led by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter, but they uncharacteristically failed to close out the game as they missed 16 of their final 23 shot attempts, including 1 of 12 from 3-point range.
This followed a hard-earned 113-104 overtime victory in Game 3 on Saturday, when David Adelman's men took the lead in the series, having split the first two games at the Paycom Center.
While the Nuggets will look to bounce back and take control of the series once again, they have struggled to get results on the road this post-season, losing three of their five matches so far while allowing 119 points per game so far.
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Team News
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The Oklahoma City Thunder remain without Serbian guard Nikola Topic, who has been sidelined for the remainder of the season through a severe knee problem.
Having dropped a team-high 32 points in the Game 3 loss, Jalen Williams endured a cold shooting display on Sunday as he finished with just 10 points on 15% shooting from the field.
Despite that performance, Williams remains the second-highest scorer for the Thunder in the playoffs with 21.0 points per game, only behind offensive partner Gilgeous-Alexander's 27.6.
As for the Denver Nuggets, Adelman will be unable to name center DaRon Holmes, who has spent the entire campaign on the sidelines after suffering a severe Achilles injury in pre-season.
Forward Hunter Tyson has missed each of the last two matches since suffering an ankle sprain in Game 2 of the semi-finals and the 24-year-old is considered day-to-day heading into Wednesday's clash.
Oklahoma City Thunder possible starting 5:
Williams, Dort, Hartenstein, Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander
Denver Nuggets possible starting 5:
Murray, Braun, Jokic, Gordon, Porter Jr
We say: The Oklahoma City Thunder to win by 5+ points.
Joshua Ojele
