Nine days have passed since Oklahoma City Thunder last played.
Denver Nuggets comes out of a tiring seven -game series against Clippers, which ends on Saturday night.
This contrast in the programs may be a factor in the 1st game of the Western Conference semifinals at Oklahoma City on Monday night on Monday night.
Both teams want to move forward further when they lose to Dallas and Denver to Thunder, both of which lost in the second round.
In the series, the figures will be announced at some point during the series for the NBA most valuable player award for two of the three finalists. Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic Finalists from Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander made 30.3 points and 6.5 assists per match at four meetings against Nuggets this season.
Thunder was slow to oppose the Gilgeous-Alexander Gilgeous-Alexander Grizzlies, including winning the serial opener in the first round, while sweeping Memphis.
However, in the first three matches of this series, only 35.3 percent of the shooting Gilgeous-Alexander, on April 26 on the serial floor of the 13 of the 24 scored 38 points.
Jokic, three times MVP, made an average of 24 points, 11.6 rebounds and 10.1 assists in Nuggets's first round series.
Jokic reached a pair of three floors against Thunder this season and made 35 shots on 15 of 20 of 20 at the last meetings on March 10th.
The series also has the current and future of Thunder Franchise against his past.
Gilgeous-Alexander came to Oklahoma City in July 2019 after spent the rookie season with Clippers. Shortly after a week, Russell Westbook, who helped Kevin Durant a regular playoff with Kevin Durant, was exchanged to Houston.
Westbrook no longer has the same explosives that made him a three-cut machine, but in the first round he showed that there is still gas in the tank.
In the first round series, Westbrook hit about 42 percent of the ark and received an average of 13.8 points per game from the counter.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, “You must explain the fact that it will be ready for the game and the pace of the game will rise.” He said. “You will try to be something right away from the bat and you can't be flat -footed.”
Westbrook played an important role against Clippers in Game 7 and helped Denver to create some separation in the second quarter.
“My ability to be a power of nature on the ground, what I am proud of myself.” He said. “So, what does it look like – a turnover, a kidnapped shot, but it could be a stealing, a dunk, a kidnapped three people, three of them may be.
At the last meetings, the teams divided four matches in the normal season, including dividing the games in the beginning of March at Oklahoma City.
Thunder won 127-103 on March 9, and Nuggets won 140-127 a day later.
However, all these games came before Denver moved to Michael Malone, the fire coach at the end of the season.
Daigneault said Nugget expects Nuggets to look differently against Clippers.
“I mean, good data point,” he said, examining Denver's first round series. “He understands how they play against Clippers, but he doesn't understand how they play against us. This will be his own face.”
The series will be the first playoff meeting among the teams since 2011, when Westbrook defeated Nuggets in five games with the help of approximately 24 points per game.
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