Shai Gilgeous-Alexander smiles at Nuggets fans after Game 3 loss: ‘Easy to talk when you’re up’

That smile That darn smile Every realizable pearly white from a star who traditionally lets his event do the talking glinted from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander s mouth as he strolled off the floor at Ball Arena Friday night His lips stretched wide His eyebrows crinkled His stat sheet of from the floor for points in the Thunder s Competition loss frowned There was little tangible reason for such a full-bore grin locked in a box-and-one prison by the Nuggets perimeter defense for much of the night But specific Nuggets fans as Gilgeous-Alexander noted postgame were chirping at him So the Thunder s likely MVP broke out the smile a seconds-long freeze frame that could stand in a week as this titanic series defining image one way or another I know how the championship goes Gilgeous-Alexander stated I know how life is It s easy to talk when you re up And I don t ever want to show them defeat or that I m mad or anything like that Nothing s written The series is not over There is a dynasty brewing out past the wheat fields of Oklahoma General manager Sam Presti stockpiled a never-ending treasure trove of draft picks and turned them into versatile jewels of young talent with an ambitious analytics-minded young head coach to lead them They are in the process of becoming great as Mark Daigneault proclaimed after the top-seeded Thunder s Championship loss and checked plenty of boxes along the way One thing that it takes to be a great unit is you get taken to the limit in the playoffs Daigneault commented Their core ultimately has yet to truly weather a playoff storm and come out unscathed And as the Thunder now stare the limit directly in the eyes the eyes of Jamal Murray Aaron Gordon and championship-tested Nuggets gamers their fate will hinge on their showing pleasure superstar We myself for sure could ve got better looks Gilgeous-Alexander stated of Oklahoma City s fourth-quarter execution Now what the answer to it is I m not sure It was a massive win for Denver on Friday night The Nuggets confused the best scorer in the meeting enough that he d need a film evaluation to figure it out After a fairly passive three quarters against a zone designed to breathe in around his drives and breathe out on Oklahoma City s supplemental shooters Gilgeous-Alexander hid behind an Isaiah Hartenstein screen and stepped back for a -footer midway through the fourth quarter Switch seemingly flipped He didn t tally again for seven regulation minutes and five minutes in overtime The Thunder guard went for down the stretch as the Nuggets largely keyed in on him and forced him into a variety of off-balance jumpers Gilgeous-Alexander had built his MVP campaign in - on the back of those looks pivoting through coverages and over contests But a targeted zone collapsed around him on every drive another defender and a back-line ready and his touch was off after two straight -point nights to begin the series Related Articles PHOTOS Denver Nuggets outlast OKC Thunder - in OT of Competition of second-round NBA Playoffs series Aaron Gordon delivers again with game-tying Nuggets put foot down on Thunder for OT Match win Nuggets-Thunder Match -pointers Michael Porter Jr finds redemption Why Michael Porter Jr is determined to keep playing through shoulder injury in Nuggets-Thunder series Renck If Nuggets don t bring fight to punchable Thunder they deserve what they get He settled for jumpers Gilgeous-Alexander self-evaluated postgame instead of getting to the rim And the Thunder turned too often to him in isolation eschewing his Robin in Jalen Williams who might ve been the best participant on the floor in a -point effort The way I see it is like you live and die by your decision Gilgeous-Alexander noted And tonight I died by my decision He though will live to see another day And another The Thunder won t shoot from -point range every event and the Nuggets will eventually have to adjust to the idea of anyone beating them besides Gilgeous-Alexander and the smile could live to earn its shine It s never easy trying to accomplish what we re trying to accomplish and we know that Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned And we have to rise to the challenge Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis