OKLAHOMA CITY – The Thunder’s two-big lineup didn’t bother the Nuggets too much in Game 1.-

Despite Oklahoma City starting a pair of 7-footers – Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein – the Nuggets finished the series opener with a 63-43 advantage on the glass and outscored the Thunder 27-21 on second chance points.

Nikola Jokic grabbed 22 rebounds for Denver and got both bigs in foul trouble. Hartenstein and Holmgren each finished the game with five fouls, but their coach stuck with them to start Game 2.

“I would be careful to evaluate anything, in terms of sample, from Game 1,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said before his team’s 149-106 win in Game 2.

“That lineup was probably tens of possessions. We think we know more about it from a larger body of work. We’ll obviously evaluate everything as we go through the series relative to this opponent, relative to this series, but it’s a little too soon to start making like seismic changes to anything without good reason.”

To Daigneault’s point, the Thunder staggered their minutes for most of the game, something interim coach David Adelman admitted impacted his own rotation when the Thunder copied the Clippers’ plan to play a traditional center against Aaron Gordon for the few minutes Nikola Jokic rests.

“They went to the Zubac rotation,” Adelman said.

“They took Isaiah out, put him back in to play with the second unit, so I got to think about that tonight. Do I want to run Aaron like I did in that game, but I’ve also got to get Aaron to the end of the game with legs. We’ll read the game, see where we’re at, see where the minutes are and do the best we can with the rotation.”

DeAndre Jordan didn’t play in Game 1, but Adelman went to the veteran center against Holmgren to start the second quarter.

In Game 2, Holmgren’s 11 rebounds and Hartenstein’s eight helped the Thunder control the glass for the meaningful minutes of the game. Jokic, with eight, was Denver’s only regular rotation player with more than five rebounds.

Zone philosophies

Different coaches with different personnel have differing views on utilizing a zone defense.

It’s something Adelman relied on from the first possession of his team’s first-round series against the Clippers. He continued to mix up his defense to deal with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder in Game 1.

“We try different things. The Clippers series, it was good to us, especially in Game 7,” Adelman said.

“It’s a good way to go I think to deter ATOs (after-timeout plays). You can kind of throw it out there, maybe they go a different way.”

Late in a tight Game 1, the Nuggets did whatever they could to deny Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the ball. It looked a little like a box-and-one but wasn’t.

“It was us on the bench, saying ‘Hey, if you get the chance (and) there’s 10 on the clock, just full on deny him as best you can.’ Shai’s a guy that can obviously get open after you do that, but you have to do some things on the fly organically when you’re out there,” Adelman said.

“He’s an amazing player. Tonight, we’ll do that again. We’ll have to throw different things out there dependent on what lineup they have on the court.”

The Thunder played exclusively man-to-man in Game 1.

“We didn’t play any zone in Game 1. We’ve mixed it in throughout the course of the year. Our thing is basically have the schemes that are disruptive to the opponent and change the schemes throughout the course of the game. You can do that in man. You can do that in zone,” Daigneault said.

“We had it in our bag, if we wanted to use it. It’s not what we did in Game 1.”

It didn’t seem to matter what defense the Nuggets utilized in Game 2, as nothing worked. That likely won’t be the case over the remainder of the series.

Coach Cal courtside

Jamal Murray wasn’t the only one with his college coach in attendance for Game 2.

The Nuggets shared video of Murray and his father, Roger, greeting John Calipari during his pregame warmup.

Murray played for Calipari at Kentucky in 2015-16 before the Nuggets drafted him with the seventh overall pick of the 2016 draft.

Calipari, who just concluded his first season at Arkansas, also coached Oklahoma City guards Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason Wallace during their lone collegiate seasons.

Gilgeous-Alexander put on a show for his former coach, dropping 34 points on 13 shots with eight assists and four rebounds. Wallace knocked down a couple of big 3s during the Thunder’s massive first half.

Murray finished with 14 points on nine shots for Denver.