The Denver Nuggets were not going to be denied. Jamal Murray played great despite being sick, David Adelman finally found life from a new rotation player with Julian Strawther, Christian Braun was on and Nikola Jokic was Nikola Jokic. That combined effort was enough to put away the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter and overcome another big night scoring from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. There’s at least one more game in the Nuggets season after they secure a 119-107 game six win.

Jamal Murray scored six of Denver’s first eight points but the Nuggets played little defense and trailed early. They tied it up before the midway point of the quarter but neither team was gaining any distance on the other. Aaron Gordon and Braun made a couple plays to put Denver on a 7-0 run for their first lead of the game. Jalen Williams had a nice block and then swished a three to slow the Nuggets momentum but Denver kept hitting their threes. They pushed the lead up to ten with about three minutes left in the quarter and some of the bench started to check in. That made the offense go stagnant at the close of the first and the Thunder closed in. After one the Nuggets led 31-28.

Denver’s bench group held the lead for the first couple of minutes in the second quarter. Their execution on offense wasn’t exactly crisp but Gilgeous-Alexander got hit on the hand which was clearly bothering him and OKC’s offense wasn’t great either. Jokic got back in but the Thunder tied it shortly after that on a Cason Wallace three. The game started to slow down mid-second quarter which did not work in the Nuggets favor. Oklahoma built four-point lead working through Chet Holmgren. In Denver’s favor, they were getting the Thunder into foul trouble. Both Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams picked up their third foul with over four minutes still left in the half and SGA joined them shortly after. He stayed in the game and started to find his rhythm on offense. The Thunder’s lead grew to nine with three minutes left. Just when it looked like OKC might break it open, Shai picked up his fourth foul which let Denver get back in the game. They closed the quarter with a 12-0 run, tying the game on a Braun three but Lu Dort had an answer at the buzzer and the Nuggets went to the half trailing 61-58.

Denver scored the first six points of the second half to take the lead briefly. OKC responded and the teams traded three pointers for a couple minutes with the Thunder back in front. Shai continued to put pressure on Denver’s defense until he got a rest for a couple minutes. Hartenstein got some easy buckets but otherwise the Nuggets were able to gain ground and tie the game. It stayed neck and neck through the meat of the third with both teams’ offense going cold. Shai came back in with the Nuggets up two and immediately went to the basket to tie the game. After that Murray found some fire and started to score. Strawther came in off the bench and had a couple threes and a layup to push the Nuggets to a ten point lead. A pair of SGA free throws made it 90-82 going into the fourth.

After a Murray three the Nuggets offense struggled to start the fourth quarter but they got a highlight block from Peyton Watson and stayed in front by eight due to some strong defense. They got up by double digits shortly after that and looked like they were about to put it away. Jokic started asserting his will, sensing blood in the water, and scored five straight point to put the Nuggets up fourteen with under six minutes left in the game. It got up to sixteen before the Thunder got a couple baskets but Jokic was diming, Strawther was having his playoff moment and the clock was running out. OKC mounted one last comeback effort with Alex Caruso forcing back-to-back turnovers and getting the lead down to ten. The Thunder weren’t going to go down without a fight but with a minute left they still trailed by nine. Eventually they were forced to play the foul game and Jokic was all too happy to do that. He iced it at the line and Denver forces game seven with a 119-107 win.