Oklahoma City Thunder looking to sweep the Denver Nuggets - Game 4 Preview
"I thought it would have had a better chance of going in if I didn't get fouled," that’s what J.R Smith said in the wake of the Denver Nuggets game-3 loss to the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Smith was venting his frustration at a foul not being called on James Harden for contesting his 3-pointer which would have taken the game into overtime.
It wasn’t called, he threw an air ball, and the Bronchos lost again. Now the Nuggets are staring at the wrong end of a sweep. You can understand their frustration.
It would be the seventh time in 8 years that Denver has failed to go past the first round in the playoffs. Head Coach George Karl has said that perhaps they got a tough matchup, but an analysis of their performance bears out the fact that the Nuggets have
not done as well as they could have regardless of the opposition.
Game-4 is now a must win for the Nuggets, but after toiling hard in game 3 and still coming short, can they stage a comeback at the Pepsi Center? Or will the Thunder
walk away with a sweep, progressing past the first round for the first time since moving to Oklahoma City (OKC) from Seattle.
OKC are the youngest team in the league and in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook they have two All-Stars, who have had a solid series so far. But, in the last three
games, the thing that propelled OKC was not the individual brilliance of one or two players; rather it was the team work that clicked for them. In all the games there have been other players who have stepped up and really taken the game away from Denver.
Last time out, it was Serge Ibaka with a towering performance of 22 points and 16 rebounds, which tipped the game in the Thunder favor. In game-4, they will be looking
for much the same. They are a team in good shape, playing well, playing together, trusting each other, and they have a realistic chance of winning the Western Conference playoffs.
George Karl, the Denver Coach, however will surely try to get his team pumped up for the challenge. As a proof that it can be done, he will try to point at the game
4 and game 5 wins that the Seattle Supersonics, his former team, had against the Chicago Bulls in a similar situation back in 1996. But, the fact is no team has ever come back to win a series from 3-0 down will also be haunting his thoughts.
Denver would still be up for it; they will do all they can to avoid the sweep and save themselves from embarrassment on their home court. To do so, they need to sort
themselves out, and quickly. They have a poor long range shooting rate (26.1) in the series. The record from the line has also been disappointing at 66.7 percent. These kind of basic mistakes and inefficiencies, combined with the fact that there is no clear
star player, no leader of the team, make their task all the more difficult.
The likes of Nene, Kenyon Martin, Wilson Chandler, Arron Afflalo and J.R smith are good players but you wouldn’t want to bet your survival on them.
In short, the Denver Nuggets have a mountain to climb. If they are to keep the series alive and avoid being humiliated at the Pepsi Center, they need to step up,
do the basics right and hold their nerves when the going gets tough. They have to focus on their own game and try to redress the shortcomings in it; throwing tantrums over foul non-calls won’t help much.
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