Isaiah J. Downing - Imagn Images
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The Denver Nuggets have shown a lot of guts so far in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. After firing head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth just days before the end of the regular season, they’ve picked themselves off of the mat and entered Sunday with a 2-1 lead over the heavily-favored Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals.
They lost on Sunday, however, fading down the stretch with a golden chance to go up 3-1, 92-87, in a slugfest. After the game, NBA on TNT’s Charles Barkley proclaimed that the NBA scheduling of playoff games was unfair for the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets have won two stunners against the Thunder, who were the NBA’s best team during the regular season at 68-14 this offseason. In Game 1, they rallied from down 7 in the final minute to win in regulation. Then, they made more plays in overtime after another late comeback down the stretch of Game 3 to give them a 2-1 lead. After scoring just eight points in the 1st quarter and struggling down the stretch, blowing a seven-point 4th-quarter lead, they couldn’t extend the lead. The Nuggets, not nearly as deep as the Thunder and having played a seven-game series in the first round while the Thunder got a lost of rest after sweeping the Grizzlies, seemed tired.
On that note, Barkley thinks it was a bit unfair that those two teams got the 3:30PM ET game on Sunday, even though they played the late game Friday night. Charles Barkley did not like that at all.
Charles Barkley: "I thought what the NBA did [to the Nuggets] was unfair. Making them play late Friday night, then an early afternoon… OKC [has more depth]… I don't think it's fair to blame everything on [Nikola Jokić], but he has not played well & I think he's wearing down." pic.twitter.com/qL96XM4WiD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 12, 2025
Honestly, his argument about depth shouldn’t matter. But, it was ridiculous that they had to play on such a tight turnaround. The NBA should have put the Nuggets-Thunder game at 8PM.
The two teams will play at 9:30 PM ET on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.