Oklahoma City Thunder star man Shai Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged that he battled through nerves to help fire his team to the Western Conference finals.

The Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 125-93 in Game to win the playoff series 4-3 and advance to the next round, where they will meet the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 35 points in the victory, helping the Thunder to their first conference finals since 2016, and used his emotion as extra motivation.

"I was nervous, to be honest. Just knowing what was on the line. ...To know if you don't bring your A-game, it could all be over. But I think that nervousness motivated me," he said, as quoted by ESPN.

"I think the nerves were natural. We actually shot horribly to start the game. But I knew we were getting really good looks, and if we just stuck with it, we would loosen up and the ball would find the basket.

"I was never worried about this, the way we started. Once I felt the flow of the game and we had the right intentions and the right energy, I knew it would turn around."

The Thunder initially exhibited signs of their nerves, missing 10 of their first 15 shots to fall 21-10 behind in the first quarter.

Got it done in Game 7. WCF up next  pic.twitter.com/LDwGZiOCtt

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 18, 2025

Following an 18-5 run in the second quarter, the Thunder were able to go in with a 60-46 lead at half-time.

Alex Caruso was deployed on three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and defended him for 40 half-court matchups – the most by a guard on Jokic in any game throughout his career.

"It's a lot of hard work. Obviously, he's a phenomenal player. His résumé speaks for itself, but he's a difficult matchup because he just does so many different things to get others involved and to influence the game," said Caruso.

"So, for me, it's just about competing ... being relentless with my energy, the effort to make it tough on him, and obviously the guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming that because I'm not doing that on my own.

"I've been fortunate enough to play with Hall of Famers, been coached by Hall of Famers, the elite of the elite. I've just been stealing stuff from other people and honing it and working on it, and now I'm trying to pass it on to the rest of the guys.

"I think that they've done a good job of that. Our communication level, our sense of urgency, our ability to dissect and move forward is a lot better than it was, I think, when I first got here.

"That's the key is using that stuff that I've learned from other people and passing it on to the others and elevate me, too."