{"id":504696,"date":"2026-02-28T06:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/504696\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T06:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:22:12","slug":"gilgeous-alexander-scores-36-in-return-tempers-flare-as-thunder-top-nuggets-in-ot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/504696\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilgeous-Alexander scores 36 in return, tempers flare as Thunder top Nuggets in OT"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) \u2014 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> scored 36 points in his return after missing nine games with an abdominal strain and the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> defeated the Denver Nuggets<\/a> 127-121 in overtime Friday night in a testy matchup that featured multiple technical fouls and an ejection.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, didn\u2019t play in overtime, but the Thunder still pulled through in the extra period.<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic<\/a>, who got into an altercation with Oklahoma City\u2019s Lu Dort in the fourth quarter, had 23 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists. Dort was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul.<\/p>\n

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray<\/a>, listed as questionable with an illness before the game, led the Nuggets with 39 points. <\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander started and drew loud applause when his name was announced in pregame introductions. His first basket came on a driving layup two minutes into the game.<\/p>\n

The teams are very familiar with each other \u2014 the Thunder defeated the Nuggets 4-3 in the Western Conference semifinals last year. The Thunder won the first two meetings this season and they play twice more.<\/p>\n

This matchup was physical from the start. Gilgeous-Alexander was called for an early technical because he threw the ball at Jokic, who made contact with him after play stopped. Denver\u2019s bench was called for a technical in the third quarter. There was plenty of talking and shoving throughout.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points in the first half, but Denver led 59-50 after making 11 of 20 3-pointers before the break.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 14 points in the third quarter to help the Thunder chip away, but the Nuggets took an 83-77 lead into the fourth.<\/p>\n

The Thunder started off hot in the fourth quarter, and Dort\u2019s 3-pointer finally put Oklahoma City up 86-85.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Dort was ejected for a hard foul against Jokic that led to a scrum near midcourt and offsetting technicals on Jokic and Oklahoma City\u2019s Jaylin Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, the tightly contested game went to overtime tied at 107.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Nuggets: Host Minnesota on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Thunder: At Dallas on Sunday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/p>\n

Cliff Brunt, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) \u2014 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 36 points in his return after missing nine games with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-504696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}