'We had no choice': Thunder storm back to take G5

OKLAHOMA CITY -- For three quarters, the Denver Nuggets were controlling Game 5 of this slugfest of a second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Nikola Jokic was hitting everything, even the kind of off-balance, one-footed fling of a 3-pointer that only he can. The young Thunder looked, well, young.

"Like we didn't have our fastball," Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said.

Then the Thunder grew up, stunning the Nuggets with a fourth-quarter comeback to win 112-105 and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night at the Paycom Center.

"We had no choice. The game obviously wasn't going our way. But we always say the answer is never a hero play or anything out of the ordinary," said Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 31 points, his seventh career 30-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist game in the playoffs. "It's being who we are. It's trusting each other playing with all five on both ends. Whatever the problem is, we can fix it with the collective effort."

While Gilgeous-Alexander was at the head of the Thunder's 34-19 fourth quarter, the comeback started when defensive specialist Lu Dort hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the final frame to cut Denver's 90-81 lead down to 92-90 with 6:20 to go.

Dort didn't play in the fourth quarter of the previous game and had missed his first three 3-point shots on the night. But Daignealt stuck with him this time, and he rewarded his faith.

"Honestly, I work put a lot of work in," Dort said when asked where his confidence came from to keep shooting. "I work on shots. I've been in those situations before I been to work, so I just keep believing in myself. My teammates have my back all the time."

Said Nuggets coach David Adelman: "Give Lu Dort a lot of credit. We had a chance to -- I wouldn't say blow the game over and out -- but we had a chance. When he made those shots to keep the minute that was big. The rotations changed after that. They got back to their number rotation. I ran guys longer, but we had the lead. You have to have to capitalize on that. And to their credit, their role players made big shots."

OKC took its first lead since the first quarter when Gilgeous-Alexander hit a layup with 3:33 remaining.

The Thunder were rolling, but Denver would not go quietly. Jokic single-handedly kept the Nuggets going with six consecutive points to tie the game at 103. But when Michael Porter Jr. missed consecutive 3-pointers, the Thunder capitalized.

Jalen Williams hit a 3 with 1:19 to go to give OKC a 106-103 lead, then screamed something at his wrist in celebration. The crowd at the Paycom Center nearly tore the roof off.

"Honestly, it was an out of body experience," Williams said. "I remember hitting the 3 and it was really loud ... I had that ringing noise. People were sending me videos of me yelling at my hand. I really don't remember it. I don't know why I did it, but when it's loud in there and you have that much energy, it might make you feel like you can do a back flip."

Then Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3 with 48 seconds left to extend the lead to 109-103 and essentially ice the game.

He did not celebrate like the Thunder had done something remarkable. Because this series has taught him and everyone on the team just how hard it is to oust a former champion and three-time MVP, no matter how many more regular-season wins OKC had (68) than the Nuggets (50).

"I thought he got more and more composed as the game went on," Daigneault said of his MVP candidate. "Despite the fact that the pressure was mounting and it got hotter in there, he got cooler, and just settled into it, made the right plays and let the game tell him what to do. He was humble."

The Nuggets put the Thunder on the defensive and under pressure since Game 1, when they rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to steal the series opener on Aaron Gordon's buzzer-beater.

That set the narrative for this series. Denver may be tired or have fewer weapons than the historically dominant Thunder. But they had the championship experience that the Thunder are going through now.

That's what made Tuesday's win so important for the Thunder.

"We're a better team today than we were at the beginning of the series," Daigneault said. "We're definitely evolving and growing and learning."

For Gilgeous Alexander, that's meant learning from the man he finished second to in MVP voting last year and will soon find out if he's surpassed in this year's voting.

"I think above all he's very smart," Gilgeous Alexander said of Jokic. "I think that's what gives him his edge. He's very smart. He's always manipulating things. He's always thinking plays ahead. He's reading defenses, offenses. His intelligence is very high up there and he's always using it."

Jokic couldn't do it all Tuesday, though. He scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the fourth quarter. The rest of the Nuggets had just six points on 1-of-15 shooting, including 0-of-10 on 3-pointers.

The Thunder have won the last two games and outscored the Nuggets 63-37 in the fourth quarter of those wins.