OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Jalen Williams scored 21 points, Chet Holmgren had 12 points and 17 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder withstood a poor shooting night from Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander in their home opener to beat the Denver Nuggets 96-84 on Thursday.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 32 points in a convincing win over San Antonio on Tuesday night, finished with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting against Denver. He failed to score 20 points for the first time in 141 games.
The league's two-time reigning MVP missed all seven shots he took in the first 24 minutes as the Thunder trailed by as many as nine points. A pair of free throws kept him from going scoreless in a half for the first time since his rookie year with the Clippers in 2019.
It marked just the fourth time in 450 games with the Thunder he's gone without a field goal in a half. Gilgeous-Alexander scored the first basket of the third quarter to pull Oklahoma City to 48-46.
Aaron Gordon scored 20 points and Nikola Jokic and DeMar DeRozan added 13 apiece for Denver, which was playing its first game.
A layup by Mitchell gave the Thunder a 64-62 lead — their first since 3-0 — and 3-pointers by Alex Caruso and Alexander extended it to 70-64 after three quarters. Oklahoma City extended the advantage to 93-76 on a 3 by Gilgeous-Alexander to give him 17 points with 1:44 left. He then asked to be taken out during a timeout and did not return to the game.
Up next
Nuggets: Host New Orleans on Saturday night.
Thunder: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
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Tim Willert, The Associated Press