Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault paid tribute to the growth of his team during the playoff series with the Denver Nuggets as they went 3-2 up on Tuesday.

The Thunder staged a fourth-quarter comeback to win 112-105 and go within one game of advancing and Daigneault was pleased with the improvements his team has made, as well as piling on praise for star man Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

"I thought he got more and more composed as the game went on," he said.

"Despite the fact that the pressure was mounting, and it got hotter in there, he got cooler and just settled into it, made the right plays and let the game tell him what to do. 

"We're a better team today than we were at the beginning of the series. We're definitely evolving and growing and learning."

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points, five rebounds and five assists, marking the seventh 30-point game of his career in the playoffs.

In their comeback victory, in which they outscored the Nuggets 34-19 in the fourth quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged that they had left themselves nowhere else to go.

"We had no choice. The game obviously wasn't going our way. But we always say the answer is never a hero play or anything out of the ordinary," he said.

"It's being who we are. It's trusting each other, playing with all five on both ends. Whatever the problem is, we can fix it with the collective effort."

Prior to the Thunder's late show, Nikola Jokic had been at his brilliant best, top-scoring with 44 points alongside his 15 rebounds and five assists.

Though the Nuggets star could not do it all himself and the victory for Gilgeous-Alexander was one over the man he finished second to in the MVP voting last season.

"I think above all, he's very smart," Gilgeous-Alexander said of Jokic. "I think that's what gives him his edge. He's very smart. He's always manipulating things.

"He's always thinking plays ahead. He's reading defenses, offenses. His intelligence is very high up there, and he's always using it."

WHAT A GAME pic.twitter.com/KRpqzuCFBF

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The Thunder's comeback began in earnest when defensive specialist Lu Dort hit three consecutive three-pointers, having earlier missed his first three.

"Honestly... I put a lot of work in," said Dort. "I work on those type of shots. I've been in those situations before I been to work, so you know I just got to keep believing in myself. My teammates have my back all the time."

Nuggets coach David Adelman, meanwhile, also highlighted the contribution of Dort.

"Give Lu Dort a lot of credit. We had a chance to, I wouldn't say, blow the game over and out, but we had a chance. When he made those shots to keep the minute, that was big," he said.

"The rotations changed after that. They got back to their number rotation. I ran guys longer, but we had the lead. You have to have to capitalise on that. And to their credit, their role players made big shots."