The Oklahoma City Thunder withstood Denver’s second-half comeback bid to beat the Nuggets, 92-87, yesterday (Philippine time) and level their NBA Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points with six rebounds and six assists and the Thunder clamped down defensively to come up with a win in a game in which both teams struggled to get their offenses firing.

The Thunder, the top seeds in the West after a league-best 68 regular-season wins, connected on just 31-of-87 shots from the field — only marginally better than Denver’s 25-for-80 success rate.

But after Denver seized the lead for the first time in the third quarter, Oklahoma City pulled ahead again on Cason Wallace’s three-pointer with 8:35 left in the fourth and held on until the end.

Having avoided falling into a 3-1 hole, the Thunder host Game 5 on Wednesday, May 14 (Philippine time).

NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Denver, who shook off a dismal start and grabbed a 53-52 lead midway through the third quarter on a three-pointer from Aaron Gordon.

Jamal Murray and Christian Braun scored 17 points each and Gordon added 15 for Denver, who extended the lead to eight points early in the fourth, but less than 48 hours after a draining overtime triumph in game three on Friday, the Nuggets couldn’t hang on.

That included 11 points each from Aaron Wiggins and Wallace and 10 from Alex Caruso and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault called their contribution “huge.” (Agence France-Presse)