"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he showed why he's MVP," Michael Malone said Tuesday during an appearance on ESPN's postgame coverage when discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder's 114-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

After a nervy first quarter, the Thunder dominated the second quarter and never looked back in a 125-93 win over the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon at Paycom Center.

Instant reaction from the Nuggets’ 125-93 loss  to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of their second-round NBA Playoffs series.

Svyato is an NBA writer at Athlon Sports, covering the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, and Oklahoma City Thunder. His love for basketball is only rivaled by his love of Funko Pops.

The Oklahoma City Thunder blitzed the Denver Nuggets on Sunday in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series in a 125-93 victory.

Aaron Gordon willed himself to play through pain, embodying a gritty playoff run by the Nuggets. But resilience and toughness weren’t enough against the Thunder.

Michael Malone, who was fired by the Denver Nuggets with three games remaining in the regular season, will join ESPN for coverage of the Western Conference finals.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the OKC Thunder is headed to the Western Conference finals. To get there, it took surviving the Denver Nuggets.