OKLAHOMA CITY — In case it wasn’t clear before, the Nuggets are dealing with the best team in the NBA.

Measuring by point differential this season, it was the best team in league history, in fact. But point differential doesn’t matter in a playoff series — fortunately for Denver. If it did, the Thunder would be up by 41 after a 149-106 Game 2 rout on Wednesday. Instead, the count is simply 1-1 as the Nuggets return home needing to regroup for Game 3 on Friday.

Denver trailed 87-56 at halftime after allowing the most points ever scored in a half of playoff basketball. The Thunder finished the night 56% from the field and 44% from 3-point range. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting.

Nikola Jokic fouled out on an illegal screen with 1:17 remaining in the third quarter of a 41-point game. Only then did Nuggets interim coach David Adelman cease to play his starters, pulling Jamal Murray for Jalen Pickett 14 seconds later. Jokic’s Game 2 ended with 17 points on 16 shots, six assists and an equal number of turnovers. He struggled to attack Oklahoma City’s third-string big, Jaylin Williams, from the moment Mark Daigneault put him on the floor in a highly unusual sub pattern.

That Daigneault could afford to try that five minutes into a playoff game illuminated the talent gap between Denver and Oklahoma City. Williams was 10th in minutes played for the Thunder in the first round, but he entered and made an instant two-way impact against the Nuggets, who have been toggling with the bottom of their rotation throughout the playoffs.

The rotation ends after seven. The eighth man depends on the night, when there is one. At one point against the Clippers, it was Vlatko Cancar. In the series opener on Monday, it was Julian Strawther for six minutes. On Wednesday, it was backup center DeAndre Jordan.

“I think for these guys, sometimes it’s hard when you rotate them in, and it’s Nikola’s (rest) minutes,” Adelman said, “and you’re saying, ‘Hey, go make an impact,’ when our whole system is based around playing through him.”

But he has to try to steal minutes somewhere when the opponent is as deep as Oklahoma City. Four Thunder bench players knocked down multiple 3-pointers in Game 2, led by Isaiah Joe's 14 points in 16 minutes without a missed shot. He received the torch from Alex Caruso, who scored 20 off the bench in Game 1.

Ironically, Nuggets sixth man Russell Westbrook was their only bright spot in an ill-fated evening from the beginning. He scored 19 points and tried to supply energy where it was lacking, even picking up the kind of motivational technical foul usually reserved for coaches.

Denver's lifeblood, the two-man game between Jamal Murray and Jokic, was ineffective. Jokic gave up ground instead of gaining it when he posted up. Michael Porter Jr., still playing with an injured left shoulder, missed a pair of clean 3-point looks to set the tone early. Christian Braun struggled to punish the Thunder for ignoring him.

Missed shots slowly snowballed into general discombobulation and other problems. The Nuggets appeared tired, got crushed on the glass and lost effort plays. Oklahoma City's physicality had them on their heels.

"It's not the first punch, I think, with this team. It's when they rotate guys in," Adelman said. "You have to take a couple punches early. It's not just their starting five that is so exceptional. It's the energy of Caruso, the different ways they can go. ... This is not a top-heavy team. This is a 'come at you in a million different ways' kind of team."

In particular, that will continue to be the case with Murray. The Thunder can throw Lu Dort, Caruso, Cason Wallace and others at him. A constantly revolving door of fresh legs to combat tired ones. In Game 1, Murray thought, "I didn't play amazing, but I played solid enough to do my job and get the win, I think. ... And we won."

Now he has scored 35 points in the series on 10-of-25 shooting as it shifts to Denver. Porter has scored 10 with a 3-for-18 clip.

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