Aaron Gordon was sitting within the Denver Nuggets‘ locker room with ice wrapped round his knees, watching the Golden State Warriors play the Houston Rockets, when one thing flashed throughout the display screen: It was his face, with ABC asserting that Gordon had simply made the primary buzzer-beating dunk in playoff historical past.
“That is loopy,” Gordon mentioned, flashing a smile.
Just a few moments earlier, with the rating tied at 99-99 in Recreation 4 of the Nuggets’ first-round playoff sequence in opposition to the LA Clippers, Gordon caught an airball from Nikola Jokic and made a two-handed dunk as 0.0 flashed on the clock. He instantly ran throughout the courtroom to the tunnel, holding an arm up in celebration as he jumped into the air.
The jam was made with no millisecond to spare, main the officers to overview whether or not the ball left Gordon’s fingertips in time. Jokic was doubtful, retreating to the bench alongside his group, not desirous to get excited after which let down. However Gordon was lengthy gone, having unwavering religion that the referees’ verdict would go his method.
“Oh, I knew,” Gordon informed FOX Sports activities.
It was an unbelievable end to a nail-biter, by which the Nuggets squandered a 22-point lead by permitting the Clippers to outscore them within the fourth quarter, 34-16. However in the long run, Gordon’s heroics saved the day for the Nuggets, tying the sequence at 2-2.
For Gordon, it was a second of pure elation amid an extremely robust season by which he was grieving the demise of his brother in a automobile accident 10 months in the past, in addition to coping with a number of calf strains.
Nuggets interim coach David Adelman, who was an assistant when Gordon was the star participant in Orlando, has witnessed the 29-year-old’s progress over his 11-season profession.
He watched Gordon go from being the man on a group that missed the playoffs 5 instances and had two first-round playoff exits, to accepting a smaller position after he was dealt to Denver on the 2021 commerce deadline, turning into a necessary piece for his or her title-winning run in 2023.
“There are particular individuals in our league that we outline as championship items,” Adelman mentioned. “I suppose we are saying that an excessive amount of. He’s a type of individuals. He is the definition of that and he all the time has been since he received to us.”
Gordon, a two-way participant who’s equally comfortable to have a dominant efficiency or sacrifice gaudy stats and do grunt work, opted to deflect the eye off of him after making a play that was going viral on the web, being mentioned throughout one other nationwide playoff sport and undoubtedly deserving of being on the Mt. Rushmore of postseason buzzer beaters.
When requested how the dunk felt, Gordon cracked a joke about Jokic’s airball.
“Good cross,” Gordon mentioned as Jokic sat subsequent to him throughout their postgame information convention.
Jokic, a three-time MVP who hardly ever misses the mark so drastically, was then requested if he certainly was dishing the ball to Gordon as an alternative of trying a really errant 27-foot fadeaway 3-pointer.
“No,” Jokic mentioned sheepishly. “It wasn’t [a pass]”
Regardless, Gordon’s timing was excellent, and he made yet one more profitable play for the Nuggets, who’re making an attempt to compete for an additional championship after being eradicated by the Minnesota Timberwolves within the Western Convention semifinals final postseason.
Gordon had a spotlight reel play Saturday, however Adelman mentioned his contributions to the Nuggets usually fly below the radar.
“He initiates offense,” Adelman mentioned. “He guards a few of the finest gamers within the NBA. You may submit him. He can go one-on-one. You may iso him in opposition to smaller guys. You may put him on smaller offensive gamers. On prime of all that, Aaron would not care if it is 12 [points] 8 [rebounds],4 [assists] that evening so long as we win. And a few nights, it is 22 [points], 12 [rebounds], 6 [assists], [but], if we lose, he would not care. He needs to win.”
When Gordon was requested about his selflessness, he pointed to Jokic, the group’s chief, who solely cares about profitable, his household and horses, and is solely unconcerned about stats or particular person accolades.
“This man is the perfect participant on the planet and he is unselfish,” Gordon mentioned. “So, if he can do it, all people can do it.”
The Nuggets’ sequence in opposition to the Clippers has been probably the most thrilling matchup within the first spherical of the playoffs, with three of the video games being determined by three factors or fewer. Unsurprisingly, Recreation 4 received chippy, with three gamers on every group being assessed a technical after Christian Braun fouled James Harden with 6.6 seconds left within the second quarter, inflicting each groups to have interaction in a skirmish.
Humorous sufficient, as an alternative of lamenting Gordon’s unbelievable buzzer-beater, the Clippers would possibly wish to blame Ivica Zubac for the sport getting away from them, contemplating he restrained Gordon from going after Harden throughout the melee. Harden had shoved Gordon, after which Gordon hit Norman Powell within the face earlier than Zubac intervened, main the gang at Intuit Dome to chant at Gordon, “Kick him out.”
As for Gordon, he mentioned he was simply sticking up for his teammate.
“I can not let no one step to my younger fella, so I used to be simply giving backup,” Gordon mentioned of Braun. “It is what playoff basketball is about.”
As for the Nuggets, all 5 starters completed in double figures, with Jokic main the cost with 36 factors, 21 rebounds and eight assists. However the highlight was on Gordon, who had 14 factors, six rebounds and 5 assists – in addition to the most important play of the postseason.
Gordon has confirmed to the Nuggets that he is the last word blue-collar employee, prepared to do something for his group. This season, he averaged 14.7 factors whereas capturing a career-high 43.6 p.c from past the arc, in addition to getting 4.8 rebounds and three.2 assists a sport.
For an additional group, his numbers may very well be way more spectacular.
However he is way more involved about doing the little issues for a group that might win a championship. And after the Nuggets’ 34-point drubbing in Recreation 3, he wasn’t going to let one other sport get away from them.
As quickly as Jokic tried his last-second 3-pointer over Zubac, he internally winced, acknowledging six phrases crossed his thoughts: “That is going to be unhealthy.”
However he did not want to fret.
Gordon did what he does finest, doing the small issues for his group.
Solely, this small factor not solely lifted his group to a win, but it surely additionally made the historical past books.
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA author for FOX Sports activities. She beforehand lined the league for Sports activities Illustrated, the Los Angeles Instances, the Bay Space Information Group and the San Antonio Specific-Information. Observe her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
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