The Denver Nuggets were blown out in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, and head coach David Adelman did not mince words when discussing the performance.
After the Thunder dominated the Nuggets 149-106 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., Adelman was asked if the message to his team was the same as the one he delivered following Denver’s blowout loss in Game 3 of their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. The coach said the difference between that game and Wednesday night is that “we got punked.”
“Yeah, but we got punked, and we didn’t play well enough. They came out with the right intensity and we didn’t,” Adelman said. “I thought we let some open shots early in the game affect us how we played defensively. This is a team that does that. There’s a reason why they have historic plus/minus numbers throughout the season, is they put people away. You gotta have a much better start than that. We can’t come out with that kind of mentality.”
Though he did not want to place the two blowout losses under the same umbrella, Adelman said he expects the Nuggets to react this time the way they did after the Clippers loss.
“It’s nice to know that you’ve got a win under your belt, but that’s not what this is right now in the present. We’ll react the right way like we did in Game 3 in L.A. — bring a different intensity, look at what they did differently, react accordingly,” the coach added. “I would expect a much better effort from our guys on Friday night in Denver.”
"We got punked."
David Adelman after losing by 43 points to OKC.
(via @NBATV)
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 8, 2025
The Nuggets ultimately did what they had to do by winning one of two games in Oklahoma City, which gives them home-court advantage for the remainder of the series. Adelman knows that the margin of defeat means very little, but he also understands that Denver cannot take nights off the way they did in Game 2.
The Thunder were the best team in the NBA all season, but the Nuggets still have arguably the best player in Nikola Jokic. Denver is just going to need full effort in every game, and Adelman feels the team fell short of that on Wednesday night.
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