The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 96-84 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night did more than open the season with a statement. It showed that the defensive formula the Minnesota Timberwolves used in last year’s playoffs can travel.
Minnesota’s six-three upset over Denver in the playoffs started with the same basic idea: make life miserable for Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, then keep attacking the Nuggets’ softer spots on defense. Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels were central to that effort. Jokic shot 44.6 percent from the field in that series, while Murray was held to 35.7 percent shooting overall and 28.9 percent when McDaniels defended him.
The Thunder took a different path, but the end result looked awfully familiar. Jokic finished 5-for-19 for 13 points, and Murray went 2-for-11 for six points.
If you can shut down this two-man game, then you can beat the Nuggets. Minnesota showed the world that in the playoffs, and OKC built on this blueprint.
What happened in Oklahoma City reinforces the idea that Denver’s offense can be schemed against. It also gives the Timberwolves another reason to feel good about their place in the West, whether that means pulling away from the Nuggets in the regular season or meeting them again in the playoffs.
The Thunder didn’t mirror Minnesota exactly. The Wolves mostly had McDaniels shadow Murray and Gobert handle Jokic, while Oklahoma City used a more spread-out approach.
Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein took the main reps on Jokic, and Williams limited him to 1-of-8 shooting. On Murray, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso all took turns.
Different setup, same outcome. The Thunder leaned on physicality, clogged up the two-man game and made Denver’s stars work for everything. That matters because the Nuggets, like so many teams, depend heavily on those two players carrying the offense.
Not every defense can pull this off. It takes elite personnel to bother Jokic and Murray this way. But Minnesota and Oklahoma City are both in that class, and now there’s a clear map for how contenders can slow Denver down.
The Nuggets aren’t vanishing from the postseason picture, and their offense isn’t going to collapse overnight. Still, the combination of vulnerable defense and the way multiple teams can choke off their attack puts a ceiling on what they can do.
For the Timberwolves, that’s the real takeaway. They built the blueprint, and the Thunder just proved it wasn’t a one-off. As Minnesota keeps pushing to challenge the Thunder and Spurs, not having to spend much energy worrying about Denver has to count as a major plus.
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