After settling into the atmosphere on Thursday night, the Thunder looked like they were in halftime form on the team's opening night, defeating the Denver Nuggets 102-87 on the road.

Oklahoma City stayed the course despite the raucous Denver crowd and played its style of basketball, although it struggled from deep – only making 22.2% of its outside shots. Overall, it wasn't the best shooting night, but the way they neutralized a talented team to hold the Nuggets to under 40% from the field and 20% from three impressed the Thunder's defense and mid-range shooting ability to sink The evening was crucial for the victory.

Here are three takeaways from Oklahoma City's win in the season opener:

There was a turnover fest at the start of the game, especially from the Thunder. Some rust had to come off as Oklahoma City suffered as many as nine putbacks in the first quarter as Christian Braun took advantage of many fastbreak opportunities due to the Thunder's poor management.

However, that quickly changed. The Thunder found their rhythm and kept it thereafter, as a couple of goals from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren got it back within range and backups like Ousmane Dieng and Aaron Wiggins began to make their mark.

Oklahoma City never looked back beyond that nine-point deficit and led for the rest of the three quarters.

Aaron Wiggins was nothing short of impressive on Thursday night and it looks like he could get more than 20 minutes a night if he continues to play with that intent and attention to detail. He was allotted 20 minutes in this game, and in that time he was able to do more offensively than almost anyone else could.

With 15 points on 7-for-9 from the field, meaningful fast-break buckets, six boards and two blocks, he was a highlight in a game that had so much upside for the Thunder. Without him, this victory wouldn't have happened nearly as smoothly.

Gilgeous-Alexander, of course, got his luck on opening night when he dropped 28 points on 11 of 24 shooting in a fairly inefficient night by his standards, with 16 of his points coming in the second half. With eight assists, two steals, three blocks, seven rebounds and 2-for-6 from three, Gilgeous-Alexander remains in MVP candidate form to start the season.

However, Holmgren was arguably the biggest highlight of the game for the Thunder. Winning the matchup and rebounding battle against Nikola Jokic with 14 rebounds and 25 points on 11 of 18 from the field while Jokic had 12 rebounds and 16 points. This was an important point for Oklahoma City in this game, especially against Isaiah Hartenstein, as Holmgren had to deal with Jokic along the boards, and he handled him well, helping force three turnovers from the big man.

All in all, there was a wealth of takeaways from this Thunder team on Thursday night, and it's going to be an exciting season across the board as they continue to grow together.

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