SGA Praised By NBA Fans After Keying Thunder's Win vs. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets in Game 5

Not even an astounding performance from Nikola Jokić was enough to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.

OKC overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half and beat the Denver Nuggets 112-105 in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series at Paycom Center to take a 3-2 lead and move one win away from the Western Conference Finals.

While Jokić (44 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and two steals) was unstoppable, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shifted into MVP mode at winning time. The Thunder guard scored 10 points in the final four minutes during a stretch that included a clutch and-1 jumper and three-pointer to create some much-needed separation.

He finished with 31 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks and earned praise from social media along the way:

The two teams traded wins in the first four contests, but Tuesday was a golden opportunity for the Thunder to become the first side to win two straight games with a raucous crowd behind them after they stole back home-court advantage with their Game 4 victory.

Yet Denver had different ideas in the early going.

The visitors built a double-digit lead in the first half with Jokić controlling the game for extended stretches. OKC had no answer for him on the inside, and he also extended his arsenal beyond the arc all while battling for boards. Throw in Aaron Gordon providing secondary scoring, and the Nuggets couldn't have asked for a better start.

However, the Thunder closed the half on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to two by intermission. That gave them all the momentum heading into the second half, but Jamal Murray turned that right around with a stretch of red-hot shooting in the third quarter even with Luguentz Dort chasing him around.

It pushed the lead back to double digits and silenced a crowd with the Nuggets setting the tone on both ends.

Jokić also continued to overwhelm the Oklahoma City defense with drives, post play and offensive rebounds, which further opened up the floor for Murray and kept the home team in comeback mode into the fourth.

While Jokić used his physicality to get to his spot for a key basket seemingly every time the Thunder were going to make a run, they finally got some momentum back when Dort caught fire from deep heading into crunch time. He drilled three straight triples before Gilgeous-Alexander finally gave them the lead with a driving layup in the final four minutes.

SGA took over for a stretch from there with a lob to Isaiah Hartenstein and an and-1 jumper, but Jokić was fittingly right there with another answer with a spinning fadeaway three over the outstretched arm of Chet Holmgren.

Still, Gilgeous-Alexander was too much down the stretch as he and Jalen Williams hit back-to-back threes to finally put the Nuggets away.

And now OKC has the chance to close them out for good when the series returns to Denver for Thursday's Game 6.