Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the second round of the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday night at Paycom Center. This Western Conference semifinal matchup is all tied up at two games apiece after OKC's 92-87 win Sunday in Denver.

The Denver Nuggets were never likely to win their second-round series with the Oklahoma City Thunder. That was true before it started, and it's certainly true now. Following OKC's 112-105 win on Tuesday,

Nikola Jokic supplied Denver with 44 points on hot shooting, but most of his key teammates struggled. The Thunder, meanwhile, had six players in double figures, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP candidate who had 31 points and seven assists.

Oklahoma City owns Philadelphia’s first-round pick, which is top-six protected. The 76ers have the fifth-best odds (10.5%) of landing the to pick in the draft and winning the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, but they could also fall out of the top six, which would convey their pick to the Thunder.

The Thunder tied their series with the Nuggets, while the Pacers blew out the Cavaliers in Game 4. Here are our takeaways from the action.

Denver was last in the league in 3-point attempts per game during the regular season (31.9), but that number has jumped to 38.5 3PA in the four contests against OKC. In their first-round series versus the LA Clippers, the Nuggets fired up an average of just 29.0 3PA across seven games.

The second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs is in full swing and three teams have 3-1 series leads after Monday's action. The Knicks and Timberwolves joined the Pacers as the teams one win away from the conference finals.