Entering Saturday night's Game 3, the Denver Nuggets were down two games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ending Saturday night, the Nuggets went down 3-0 to the Thunder in the opening round o the NBA playoffs following a 97-94 loss.
J.R. Smith had a chance to make the game-tying shot at the end of the fourth quarter, but James Harden was all over him. The crowd took it out on the refs for not calling a foul there. Smith scored 15 points off the bench and was a plus-14. He, Danilo Gallinari, Chris Andersen and Al Harrington were the only players with positive a plus/minus stat. The four starters not Gallo were all in the minus.
Tied for the team-lead in points with Smith at 15, Nene grabbed 10 rebounds and Kenyon Martin pulled down seven. Arron Afflalo returned to the court and scored nine points in the first quarter, but had just four points over the rest of the game. The team shot just 36.2 percent from the field and just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Serge Ibaka dominated the Nuggets the entire game. He scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. The disparity in rebounding was on display again for most of the game, but the Thunder held a 49-43 advantage at the end of the game. Kevin Durant (26 points) and Russell Westbrook (23 points) combined for 49 points, 14 assists and13 rebounds.
Game 4 of this series is Monday, April 25 at the Pepsi Center. Tip-off is scheduled for around 8:30 p.m. MT.