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Christian Braun of the Denver Nuggets defends Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the third quarter in Game 6 of the Western Conference playoffs Thursday.
The NBA’s best regular-season team is going to face elimination.
Yet, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the likely 2025 NBA MVP and star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, seemed confident about going home after Oklahoma City was sent to the brink with a 119-107 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday night.
“It’s do or die,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s what you lived for. It’s what you worked your whole life for. It’s either your dream continues or your dream ends. So you lay it all out there on the floor and live with the results.”
Oklahoma City, which won an NBA-best 68 games during the regular season, was outscored 61-46 during the second half.
“They were better to start the game and better the whole second half,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Foul Troubles
The Thunder had difficulty scoring without Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor, which was an issue since the star guard picked up his fourth foul late in the first half.
“It obviously impacted substitutions,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of his team’s foul trouble. “I was a little bit conscious of it, obviously at the end of the first [half] to get Shai with four [fouls].”
Jalen Williams, who has been Oklahoma City’s main second option and averaged 19.2 points in the playoffs, struggled mightily offensively in Game 6. He made just 3 of 16 field goals, went 0 for 4 from 3-point range and did not attempt a free throw, scoring just six points.
“That’s life. That’s basketball,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, when asked about Williams’ struggles. “Tonight wasn’t his night, clearly.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was hyper-efficient in Game 6, shooting 11 for 16 from the field for 32 points. But he was limited to just 35 minutes due to the foul trouble, and the Nuggets turned around a double-digit deficit late in the first half with a 12-0 run with him on the bench late in the first half.
That run gave Denver confidence and ultimately led to its lopsided second half. The Nuggets outscored the Thunder 73-49 after over the final 26 minutes.
“They just outplayed us in the second half,” Daigneault said. “They were sharper, executed better, made more plays, so credit them. They went and got the game.”
Home-Court Advantage
The Thunder went 35-6 during the regular season at Paycom Center and are 4-1 there during the playoffs. So Gilgeous-Alexander is confident going home, especially in Williams’ ability to perform in Game 7.
“The best part of it all is he has an opportunity to change all that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams. “If he has a big game, nobody remembers [his Game 6 struggles], nobody cares, and he doesn’t either.”
The Thunder lost a pivotal Game 5 in their second-round series loss to the Dallas Mavericks last season. Yet, they learned from that experience, led by Gilgeous-Alexander’s dominant offense, by winning Game 5 this year.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, Gilgeous-Alexander is looking forward to the win-or-go-home game and had a calming message for his team and Thunder fans.
“It’s going to be very fun,” he said. “It’s going to be the highest-intensity basketball that you ever play, but at the same time it’s still just basketball. You have to play free and confident above all else.”
Pat Pickens Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times, USA Today and many more.
He is the author of the 2021 nonfiction book “The Whalers” and director/producer of the 2025 documentary film with the same name about the history of the NHL’s Hartford Whalers. More about Pat Pickens
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