The Oklahoma City Thunder condemned the Denver Nuggets to their heaviest defeat of the season but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still says the defending NBA champions are "the level that you want to get to".
The Nuggets fell to their second defeat by Thunder in the space of two weeks and ended their six-match winning streak after a 119-93 defeat in Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points – his fifth 40-plus game this season and four shy of his career-best set last season – for the Thunder and Chet Holmgren added 24.
A pair of defeats to Oklahoma are Denver's only two in their last 11 games, although Gilgeous-Alexander was quick to credit the Nuggets.
"It's not a fluke they won the championship," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "They're a really good team and we know that every night we play them.
"You get out of bed to play against teams like that knowing they're at the level that you want to get to."
Gilgeous-Alexander also went 14 of 20 from the field and made all 10 of his free-throw attempts.
"He was just cruising. He let the game come to him," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "It never seemed like he was forcing. Played the right way throughout, made the right passes, and kept them honest.
"It's kind of routine at this point but he played a great game."
Holmgren scored the Thunder's first 10 points of the game and finished with 24, hitting all four attempts from three-point range, and had two blocks.
"He's a threat on the court in so many ways and him drawing that attention only makes it easier for the guys around him, including myself," Gilgeous-Alexander said of his Oklahoma teammate.
Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Nuggets, who were without Aaron Gordon for a second straight game due to hand and facial injuries sustained from dog bites.
Yet Jokic also committed seven turnovers, two shy of his career high.
"You've got to be clean with the ball, you can't play in a crowd," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of the turnovers.
"It's something they do to most teams, but you're not going to give yourself a chance to win when you allow them to play to their strength."