OKLAHOMA CITY — If the basketball gods had a sense of humor, Nikola Jokic would win the most valuable player award and Aaron Gordon would take home the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Get me rewrite. Order me a drink to calm the nerves. And pinch me to make certain this was more than a dream sequence of basketball.

In a nobody-saw-that-coming finish that caused the heart to palpitate and befuddled the mind, the Nuggets shocked Oklahoma City 121-119 Monday in Game 1 of this NBA playoff series.

After hitting a 3-point shot in the dark during the final seconds of the final period for the win, perhaps we should call Gordon the Midnight Rambler. For the second time in this postseason, when it was so late that nothing short of a miracle would save the Nuggets, Gordon beat the buzzer.

“When I shot it, did I know it was an in? I knew it wasn't a miss,” Gordon said.

This bit of improbable heroics somehow topped his buzzer-beating dunk against the Los Angeles Clippers with a dagger from beyond the arc that gave Denver its first lead since late in the first quarter.

Hockey awards a trophy to the most outstanding player of the entire postseason. Through eight Denver playoff games, nobody has been more clutch than Gordon.

"He's the soul of our team," Denver coach David Adelman said.

And Jokic?

Well, the NBA is going to award Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the MVP sometime during the course of this series.

It’s too late to demand a recount.

But it’s not too late to chuckle at the knuckleheads who didn’t vote for Jokic because they were bored with him taking home the hardware.

Don’t get me wrong. Gilgeous-Alexander is a privilege to watch play.

Pounding his dribble, SGA makes everyone else on the court look out of step. He moves to his own backbeat rhythm, as distinctive as Muddy Waters’ hoochie coochie man and with a hook as unstoppable as 50 Cent in da club.

In the same building where Russell Westbrook celebrated the most valuable player award in 2017, the home crowd now sings the same hosanna for Gilgeous-Alexander. He scored 33 points in Game 1. Not too shabby. But not enough to beat the Joker.

A very strong man with a very soft touch and elbows heavy enough to knock Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort somewhere over the rainbow, Jokic forces the most gifted athletes on the planet to play at his speed.

Although Thunder fans cleverly chanted “Free throw merchant!” when Denver’s center stepped to the foul line, Jokic enjoyed the last laugh.

With the power of an Olympian weightlifter, he cleaned and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. He scored 42 points, including 18 to fuel Denver’s rally in the final quarter. That’s Jordan-esque. And his 22 rebounds harkened back to the prime of Wilt Chamberlain.

"We make stupid mistakes, but we find a way," Jokic told Altitude's Katy Winge amid the pandemonium of the no-freakin'-way ending. "And that's the description of this team: We find a way."

Entering this series, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder bunch had been kicking back and relaxing for nine days, after quickly sweeping Memphis out of the way in the opening round. The Nuggets were running on adrenalized fumes, after knocking the wind out of the L.A. Clippers’ sails fewer than 48 hours prior to tipoff of Game 1 in OKC.

But deep into the rigors of an NBA season, the benefits of rest almost always outweigh the chore of knocking off rust.

With Jamal Murray as sharp and on point as a Blue Arrow, Denver rudely reminded Oklahoma State that fumbling for a switch to turn on playoff intensity can be severely punished. The Nuggets, fueled by a dozen early points from Murray, raced to a 24-16 lead before the first quarter was 8 minutes old.

Then came a Thunderclap so loud it nearly blew Denver out of the arena. Oklahoma City shooters rediscovered their touch from 3-point range, and torched Adelman’s strategy of employing a zone defense. Defensive ace Alex Caruso came off the bench with an energy jolt even more electric than what we’ve seen Westbrook give the Nuggets. SGA did MVP things.

The result was a stretch of 13 minutes, 15 seconds, of overwhelming dominance by the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. When Gilgeous-Alexander canned a free throw to cap a 39-17 blitz and give OKC a 14-point advantage late in the second quarter, the Thunder made Denver’s series against the Clippers look like nothing more than a warm-up bout for this battle royale.

The Nuggets, however, refused to let go of the rope and surrender.

“It would’ve been really easy for me to come up here (after a loss) and say,“We just played Saturday in a Game 7. And we have all the excuses in the world. And we’re so tired,’” said Adelman, saluting the stubborn resilience of his players during his postgame presser.

“No. This is the playoffs. You only get a certain amount of chances at it.”

Given a chance to steal Game 1?

The Nuggets took it.

And ran.