Oklahoma City - In three quarters, the Denver Nuggets controlled Game 5 of the second round of playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Nikola Jokic hit everything, even that imbalance, only one foot of his 3-pointer. The young thunder sound looked very young.

"It's like we don't have fastballs," said Oklahoma City coach Mark Digneault.

The Thunder then grew up, winning the Nuggets 112-105 with their fourth-quarter comeback and leading 3-2 in the Western Conference semi-finals at Paycom Center Tuesday night.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said: "We have no choice. This game obviously didn't go." That's who we are. It can trust each other at both ends. Whatever the problem is, we can solve it through collective efforts. ”

While Gilgeous-Alexander pushed the Thunder’s 34-19 season in the fourth quarter, the comeback began with defensive expert Lu Dort hitting three-pointers in three consecutive innings in the final frame to reduce Denver’s 90-81 lead to 92-90, thus reducing the score by 6:20.

Dort missed his first three-pointer on Tuesday, having no match in the fourth quarter of the last game. But this time Daigneault insisted on Dort and the coach's faith paid off.

“I honestly did a lot of work,” said when asked where his confidence continued to shoot. "I'm in the lens. I've been in those situations before I went to work, so I've always believed in myself. My teammates have always been supporting me."

Nuggets coach David Adelman conducted the assessment.

"Give Luduo a lot of credit," he said. "We had a chance - I wouldn't say beat the game - but we had a chance. When he shot those shots to keep it for a minute, that was big. The rotation changed. They went back to their number rotation. I ran longer. But we had the lead. But we had to capitalize on that. You have to take advantage of that.

OKC led the first quarter since the first quarter, when Gilgeous-Alexander scored a layup with 3:33 left in the game.

Thunder was rolling, but Denver would not walk quietly. Jokic single-handedly held the Nuggets for six consecutive points, tied with 103 points. But when Michael Porter Jr.

Jalen Williams made three times with a 1:19 run, giving OKC a 106-103 lead and screaming on his wrist. The crowd at the Paycom center almost tore the roof apart.

"To be honest, it was an in vitro experience," Williams said. "I remember hitting 3 times and it was really loud...I made a loud noise. People sent me videos of me yelling. I really don't remember. I don't know why I did it, but when it's there and you have a lot of energy, it might make you feel like you can do a bounce."

Gilgeous-Alexander then reached 3 times with 48 seconds left, extending the lead to 109-103 and essentially playing.

He didn't celebrate a great thing like the Thunder, because the series taught him and everyone on the team, no matter how regular season title (68) Okc won, how hard it was to drive out the former champion and three-time MVP.

“I think he made up more and more as the game goes on.” “Although the pressure gets higher and it gets hotter there, he gets cooler, just settles in, does the right game and lets the game tell him what to do. He’s humble.”

The Nuggets have put the Thunder in defense and pressure since Game 1, when they gathered from the fourth quarter deficit and stole Aaron Gordon's Buzzer Maniac series.

This sets the narrative for the series. Denver may be tired, or have fewer weapons than the Thunder that dominates the history. But the Nuggets have the championship experience that the Thunder are experiencing.

That's what makes Tuesday's victory so important to the Thunder.

"Today, we are a better team than we did when the series started," Daigneault said. "We are absolutely constantly evolving, growing and learning."

For Gilgeous Alexander, that means learning from the man who finished second in the MVP vote last year and it will soon be discovered whether he has surpassed this year's vote.

"I think the most important thing about him is that he's smart," Gilgeous Alexander said of Jokic. "I think that's why he's giving him an edge. He's smart. He's always manipulating things. He's always thinking about it. He's reading about defense, offense. His intelligence is high there, and he's using it all the time."

Jokic couldn't do it all Tuesday. He scored 13 points on 4 from 6 shots in the fourth quarter. The remaining Nuggets have only 6 points in 15 goals, including 0 points in 10 of 3-pointers.

The Thunder have won the last two games in the last two games and beat the Nuggets 63-37 in the fourth quarter of those wins.