{"id":23208,"date":"2025-05-10T11:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T11:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/23208\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T11:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T11:57:09","slug":"aaron-gordon-not-shai-gilgeous-alexander-mvp-of-nuggets-thunder-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/23208\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Gordon, not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, MVP of Nuggets-Thunder series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Gordon didn\u2019t miss after the game, either.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was it like being the worst player on the floor?\u201d a reporter asked Nikola Jokic following the MVP\u2019s rare off-night Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gordon, dressing at his locker stall about four feet behind the Joker\u2019s media scrum, suddenly perked up.<\/p>\n

It was meant to be funny. Cute. Ironic, even.<\/p>\n

Only AG wasn\u2019t laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not the worst player on the floor,\u201d the Nuggets forward said with an incredulous whisper. \u201cWhat kind of question \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Got a better one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name Robert Horry mean anything to you?\u201d I asked AG after a wild, 113-104 overtime win over the Thunder sent Denver into Sunday\u2019s Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean Big Shot Bob?\u201d<\/a> Gordon replied with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs a nickname like that,\u201d a compatriot suggested. \u201cSomething that rhymes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Clutch?<\/p>\n

AG3?<\/p>\n

Splash Gordon?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let y\u2019all figure that one out,\u201d Gordon chuckled.<\/p>\n

The right calf hurts. The heart aches. The shot is poetry. The timing is Hollywood. Gordon saved the Nuggets\u2019 bacon again late Friday night at Ball Arena<\/a>, sinking his third game-tying or game-winning shot of this year\u2019s NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n

With 27 seconds left and Denver down 102-99 in a slugfest \u2014 and slugging it out is the Nuggets\u2019 best path to moving on \u2014\u00a0Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a jumper from 21 feet out. Jamal Murray corralled the defensive rebound and led a break the other way.<\/p>\n

The Blue Arrow zipped past the timeline, slowing up until help arrived. Gordon trailed to Murray\u2019s right, then split the paint with a wheel route to his left, unguarded with every step. Murray spotted him in the corner.<\/p>\n

By the time OKC\u2019s lanky Chet Holmgren realized he was the closest man and the last hope, it was too late. AG had done the Thunder dirty off a scramble for the second time in three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many hours have you practiced that corner three?\u201d I asked Gordon later.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot,\u201d Gordon said. Another smile. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets have made bigger trades. But the March 2021 deal that brought Gordon from Orlando, in hindsight, might turn out to be the very best.<\/a><\/p>\n

Every moment in Denver, Gordon has risen to meet. Every challenge, he\u2019s faced head-on. Every role, he\u2019s embraced.<\/p>\n

Gordon flew in from Florida as a high-flying, high-volume scorer. Those shots were already spoken for here.<\/p>\n

When the team needed a bruiser, he got stronger. When they needed a defensive stopper, he studied film. When they needed a 3-point threat, having let Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk, he went back to his home gym inside that warehouse of his. He fired shot after shot, sanding off the rough edges and that hitch in his release.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good player, first of all,\u201d Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said of Gordon. \u201cSo I don\u2019t think he\u2019s punching above his weight. This is who he is. He\u2019s been an incredible piece of their team for a long period of time, and he\u2019s shown up in these games.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Gordon) made some big, big plays, big shots (Friday). So, we tip our hat to him. But, I thought, generally, we did a good job on his driving (in Game 3). We\u2019ll take a look at it, but \u2026 we\u2019ve got to rise to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without Gordon, the Nuggets right now are propping up the local economy in Cancun and the stables in Sombor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo people appreciate the sweat,\u201d I asked Gordon, \u201cthat goes into changing your game, evolving it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it takes a lot of work. But the reward is itself,\u201d the forward replied. \u201cI don\u2019t really care about other people praising (it) or not. It doesn\u2019t matter to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through seven playoff games this spring, AG\u2019s shot 56% from the floor (15 of 27) and 50% from beyond the arc (seven of 14) in the fourth quarter or OT while the game\u2019s been within 15 points or closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your level of confidence right now?\u201d a reporter asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the basket look \u2026 bigger?\u201d<\/p>\n

A nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cMm-hmm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets have about five gears on a good night. OKC can shift up to about eight. Denver isn\u2019t deep enough, or pretty enough, to smoke a 68-win team.<\/p>\n

Still, poise wins late. Scars get you over the line. Four ugly wins beat three blowout losses. If it comes to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s continuity in it. We\u2019ve been there,\u201d Gordon explained. \u201cWe\u2019ve done it at the highest level. We\u2019ve got great players on this team. There\u2019s a trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a vibe. Get the Thunder in the clinch, they\u2019ll clench.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat (Gordon has) done this postseason has been unbelievable for us,\u201d super sub Peyton Watson noted. \u201cHe\u2019s won us games, and we need everything that we can get, so I\u2019m just super happy for AG overall, what he\u2019s been through, and the person that he is, and the teammate that he is. It couldn\u2019t have happened to a better guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A guy who\u2019s helping to raise his nephews, Brody and Zayne, the sons of his late brother, Drew, who passed away last spring at a too-young 33.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Drew\u2019s with me,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cI\u2019ve got his nephews. I\u2019m just trying to be an example for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only he turned into an example for us all. When you\u2019re flying in this kind of zone, you never, ever want to leave. The series MVP so far wears 32 for Drew, a man alone on the wing with angels at his back. And daggers in his eyes.<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: May 10, 2025 at 5:41 AM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Gordon didn\u2019t miss after the game, either. \u201cWhat was it like being the worst player on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[877,2276,7,6850,366,187,762,865,165,252,6,11,253,302,310,475,179,3966,3965,1146,209,66,198,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-23208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-ball-arena","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bruce-brown","12":"tag-chet-holmgren","13":"tag-denver-nuggets","14":"tag-jamal-murray","15":"tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-more-nuggets-news","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-nba-playoffs","20":"tag-nikola-jokic","21":"tag-nuggets","22":"tag-oklahoma","23":"tag-oklahoma-city","24":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","25":"tag-oklahomacity","26":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","27":"tag-peyton-watson","28":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-columnists","31":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114483419156484027","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}