OKLAHOMA CITY — The only noises to be heard in “Loud City” early Sunday afternoon were nervous murmurs and clanging wayward jumpers, which is not at all what the Paycom Center crowd had in mind for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s biggest home game in nine years.

For all the misconstruing that happens in these NBA Playoffs, Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets brought out the OKC Thunder team Mark Daigneault recognized.

For live updates and highlights from the Thunder's Game 7 against the Nuggets, regularly check back to this post: The Thunder move on to the Western Conference Finals. They will face the Timberwolves. Barring a historic collapse, the Thunder will cruise their way to a Game 7 win.

Nuggets vs. Thunder. Nikola Jokić vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Game 7! Sunday's high-stakes showdown (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) will conclude a dramatic second round of the NBA playoffs. Who will move ...

This young Thunder team has done a lot in the past few years, but a Game 7? Sunday will be a first, and it'll be unlike anything they've experienced.

In a do-or-die scenario, the Denver Nuggets survived against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 119-107 Game 6 win. The back-and-forth affair will reach a dramatic Game 7 on Sunday. Only fitting considering the West heavyweights have exchanged blows.

The hypotheticals are more nuanced this year. It was all soberingly simple in 2024. In a series of blowouts, the Nuggets would’ve advanced past Minnesota if they had just protected that 20-point lead in Game 7. There were no other distinct moments that swung the outcome. Just one unambiguous collapse.