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.

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.

Those points didn’t come because the Thunder were bombing away from 3 — they shot 30.8% on the night — but in the paint, where the Thunder scored 64 points before both coach