OKLAHOMA CITY – After working late for a win in Game 1, the Nuggets took the night off Wednesday.

“It was one team playing tonight,” Nuggets star Nikola Jokic said.

Despite a delicate effort in a 149-106 loss, the Nuggets still return to Denver with home-court advantage thanks to Aaron Gordon’s game-winner in the final seconds of Game 1. That wasn’t at the forefront of interim coach David Adelman’s mind postgame. He was taking his time before moving on to Friday’s massive Game 3 at Ball Arena.

“We can’t come out like that, that kind of mentality. I’m not sitting here tonight talking about the 1-1 thing. Not tonight. We’re not going to flush that. We’ve got to be better. We know that,” Nuggets interim coach Adelman said after the franchise’s third-largest loss in postseason history.

“That being said, it’s nice to know that you’ve got one underneath your belt, but that’s not what this is right now in the present. We’ll react the right way like we did (after) Game 3 in LA, bring a different intensity, look at what they did differently and react accordingly. I would expect a much better effort from our guys Friday night.”

The euphoria after Gordon’s second game-winner of the postseason felt like a long time ago Wednesday. There was no such drama two nights later. After Jamal Murray scored the opening bucket, it was all Thunder. The Paycom Center sounded like a severe storm was rolling through the arena for much of the night. Denver gave up 45 points in the first quarter, fell behind by 35 in the second quarter and gave up 87 points in the first half, an NBA record for points in a half.

“You get punched in the mouth like that, you only have one option. We got to be better on both ends, but I think it’s their physicality … they kind of punked us from the start,” Nuggets guard Christian Braun said. “We can’t let that happen again.”

A 30-25 advantage in the fourth quarter likely prevented Denver from flirting with the franchise’s biggest playoff losses, a 45-point defeat to Minnesota last year in Game 6 and a 44-point loss to the Lakers in the 1985 Western Conference Finals.

“We got punked. We didn’t play well enough. They came out with the right intensity. We didn’t,” Adelman said.

“I thought we let some open shots early in the game affect how we played defensively.”

After Jokic was the best player on the floor in Game 1, that title belonged to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Game 2. The Thunder’s likely Most Valuable Player finished with 34 points, making 11 of 13 shots from the field and all 11 of his free throws. He added eight assists and four rebounds. The Thunder won his 30 minutes on the court by 34 points.

Jokic effectively removed himself from the game after picking up his fifth and sixth fouls late in the third quarter, though he said that wasn’t his intent.

“I wanted to set a good screen on Jamal, because they were so physical, handsy on him,” Jokic said. “It happens.”

Jokic ended his night with 17 points on 16 shots with eight rebounds, six assists and six of Denver’s 21 turnovers. Gordon wasn’t thrilled with Jokic’s whistle after the three-time MVP was called for more fouls (6) than he attempted free throws (5).

“They’re fouling the guy,” Gordon said. “

“They’re calling the second foul almost every time. They’re fouling Joker first, and then Jok is reactionary, and they do get the second guy a lot of the time. But they’re fouling him – point blank, period – throughout the game. It’s a thing where you can’t call every foul or you’d be calling a foul every single play, but they’re fouling him.”

Adelman declined to pull his starters until Jokic’s sixth foul. None of the starters who were asked had an issue with the decision postgame.

“I felt like those guys wanted to go back out there and play,” Adelman explained his decision. “I felt like they needed to find a rhythm of physicality.”

As bad as Game 2 was, there’s good news for Denver. The Nuggets have advanced six out of seven times after splitting the first two games in the Jokic and Murray era. That includes the first-round series against the Clippers and the 2023 NBA Finals when Denver conceded home-court advantage. Two others came against the Jazz and Clippers in the 2020 bubble. The lone loss came when Denver split the first two games at Ball Arena against Portland in the second round of the 2019 postseason.

If the Nuggets produce another effort like Game 2 in one of the remaining games this series, Denver’s much more likely to drop to 6-2 after splitting the first two games of the series in recent history.

“You can’t get punked in the first six minutes. They set the tone,” Adelman said.

“We should not flush that. We should be thinking about that. We’ve got to get a lot better.”

THUNDER 149, NUGGETS 106

What happened: Oklahoma City led by 24 after the first quarter and owned an 87-56 advantage at halftime. It was pretty much over from there, as the Thunder evened the series at a game apiece.

What went right: Paycom Center’s media dining room serves Pibb Xtra. The caffeine proved to be a key ingredient for staying awake for the second half.

What went wrong: The Thunder made 10 of 12 shots inside the arc and went 5 of 9 from 3 in the first quarter, erupting for 45 points. Denver went 2 of 10 from 3 and got outscored 16-6 in the paint.

Highlight of the night: Oklahoma City had plenty to choose from. Denver’s best play was a long outlet pass from Nikola Jokic to Russell Westbrook for a layup in the first half.

Up next: The series shifts to Denver for Friday’s Game 3 at Ball Arena.