Nikola Jokic knew his shot wasn't going in. After the conclusion of Game 4 on Saturday, he shared his thoughts while the ball traveled through the air: "This is gonna be bad." He was correct. But out of nowhere, his teammate Aaron Gordon arrived to turn an airball into a buzzer-beating dunk, allowing the Denver Nuggets to escape with a 101-99 win that guaranteed at least two more games in an incredible series against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Gordon's heroics wrapped up an absurd fourth quarter in which Denver fumbled a less stressful victory. After three quarters, the Nuggets had a 20-point lead. At the seven-minute mark, Los Angeles trailed, 89-74. With eight seconds left, Ivica Zubac's tip-in completed the Clippers' rally and tied the game at 99 apiece. Jokic's last shot was more of a preventative measure to guarantee overtime, but Gordon had other plans.
NBA Official releases a video showing Gordon's dunk as out of his hands before time expired
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) 2025-04-27T02:46:45.641Z
(Take a moment to look closely at the photo at the top, shot by Luke Hales of Getty Images. It really captured all the fun parts of that moment. As the players react to Gordon's dunk, there's a nice smattering of fans lining the frame, the clock reading 0.0, and, in the bottom-right corner, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer watching his team losing a 2-1 series lead. Lovely.)
Officials took a few minutes to review the play, and confirmed that Gordon really did do that shit. Referee Zach Zarba provided a direct explanation in the pool report: "It has to be out of [Gordon's] hand when that red light is on. That’s what we’re looking for. It’s not the cylinder of the rim—it’s whether it’s in contact with his hand or not when that red light comes on."
Most of the series has been as close as Gordon's game-winner: Three of the four games have been decided by three or fewer points. Given how tight the Western Conference standings were down the stretch, it's fitting that the fourth-seeded Nuggets and fifth-seeded Clippers would maintain those slim margins in their playoff matchup. The series has been entertaining and intense, even aside from when Russell Westbrook has the ball and you don't know what the hell he'll do next. Saturday's game also featured a little dead-ball skirmish right before halftime. James Harden, Kris Dunn, Norman Powell, Christian Braun, Jokic, and Gordon were all tagged with offsetting technical fouls, but nobody was ejected because officials determined that no player threw a closed-fist punch.
Not every first-round series has been this competitive—the Thunder have already swept the hapless Grizzlies; the Cavaliers have a chance to do the same to the Heat on Monday—but most contain some palpable animosity. Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks are sustaining the acrimonious vibes for Rockets-Warriors, while Detroit has turned Knicks guard Jalen Brunson into their bugbear. The chippiness between the Nuggets and Clippers is more of a bonus. Judging by the actual on-court play, it really does feel like these two teams are giving each other all they have on every possession. Game 5 is in Denver on Tuesday; hopefully this series goes to seven.
