OKC Thunder Defense Compliments 3-Point Shooting in Win Against Denver

The Oklahoma City Thunder were in the midst of a slump, but the team turned out one of its best performances of the past few games on Sunday night.

After losing three of the last four games, OKC was able to defeat the Nuggets 121-111 in Denver on Sunday night to pick up a crucial win. The Thunder have a tough stretch upcoming, and grabbing another win against one of the best teams in the NBA helps the team's confidence and keeps the group's lead on the rest of the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City's 3-point shooting was one of the main catalysts for an impressive victory against Denver, but Mark Daigneault's team also had a strong showing on defense.

Peyton Watson had a stellar outing on offense for the Nuggets, scoring 29 points, but other than the 23-year-old's performance, OKC contained Denver's stars. Nikola Jokic attempted just nine shots in the game, finishing with 16 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.

The three-time MVP made six of his nine shot attempts, but also turned the ball over six times as the Thunder used multiple defenders against Jokic for most of the game. Of course, the Nuggets' superstar was playing just his second game back after being sidelined for a month with an injury, but that didn't slow down Jokic against the LA Clippers in his first game back.

In Denver's win against LA, the All-Star big man tallied 31 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 8-of-11 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 13-of-17 from the free throw line. Against OKC, though, Jokic only went to the charity stripe four times.

In addition to OKC's solid defense against Jokic, first-time All-Star Jamal Murray also struggled from the field against Daigneault's group. Murray finished with 12 points while shooting 4-of-16 from the field and 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

On the season, the 28-year-old is averaging 25.5 points while shooting 48.7% from the field and 43.9% from 3-point range on more than 7 attempts per game.

Like the Thunder, Denver was missing multiple key pieces in its rotation that would have certainly impacted the contest, but OKC still performed well on defense without a trio of its best defenders. Alex Caruso and Jalen Williams, two All-Defense honorees, were out of the lineup, as well as Ajay Mitchell, who has also been a strong defender on the perimeter this season.

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