Aaron Gordon and the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat again in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
While the Philadelphia 76ers are sitting at home, two of their rivals are battling it out in the NBA Finals. The Denver Nuggets remained in South Florida on Friday looking for the 3-1 stranglehold in this series against the Miami Heat.
The 8-seeded Heat continued to battle as they have all postseason, but the Nuggets proved to be too much. Aaron Gordon gave Denver a huge lift with 27 points, six rebounds, and six assists as he used his size and strength against this smaller Heat team in a 108-95 win. Nikola Jokic added 23 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists while Jamal Murray added 15 and 11 assists. Bruce Brown had 21 big points off the bench as well.
The Nuggets are now one win away from their first title in franchise history.
For Miami, former Sixers star Jimmy Butler had 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists while Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Miami shooters Max Strus and Gabe Vincent struggled as they shot a combined 0-for-7 from deep.
The series now shifts to the Mile High City on Monday where the Nuggets will be looking to earn the title and close the series out.
‘Marcus Smart truly is one of the best guard defenders in the NBA,’ writes HoopsHype.
The Boston Celtics would have taken a different player than veteran point guard Marcus Smart if the counterfactual past imagined by a redraft of the NBA’s 2014 class that was put together by Hoops Hype’s Frank Urbina and Raul Barrigon was non-fiction.
Had the draft order in this alternate reality remained the same, Boston would have taken forward Aaron Gordon with the sixth overall pick controlled by the Celtics. The Flower Mound native would have fallen to the seventh pick of the 2014 NBA draft.
“The reigning Defensive Player of the Year, even as questionable as that award might have been, Marcus Smart truly is one of the best guard defenders in the NBA,” writes Hoops Hype.
Hoops Hype notes Smart is “an absolute pest on that end of the floor” who “also provides some solid playmaking for the Celtics” as well.
When it comes to contenders for the 2023 NBA title, the Boston Celtics are in rarified air. https://t.co/PkyUNMom8L
Fairly, they note “his shooting is still very inconsistent,” though we think this is not as true as it used to be in terms of volume if not quality.
They have the Texan floor general ranked just ahead of Clint Capela, but at least for the Celtics, believe Smart made (and would make) more sense than a Gordon pickup would have been, with Smart the more impactful player.
Rookie Wire took a look at some of the biggest snubs from the 2023 NBA All-Star Game.
The NBA on Thursday unveiled the seven reserve players from each conference to complete the rosters for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James led all players in fan voting to represent the Western Conference as a starter. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was the lead vote-getter in the Eastern Conference. The two players will serve as captains and select their teams right before the start of the All-Star Game for the first time.
Joining James as the starters from the Western Conference are Nikola Jokic (Denver), Zion Williamson (New Orleans), Stephen Curry (Golden State) and Luka Doncic (Dallas). From the Eastern Conference, the other starters are Kevin Durant (Brooklyn), Jayson Tatum (Boston), Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn) and Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland).
The seven reserves in each conference were voted on by the 30 head coaches in the NBA. Each selected two guards, three frontcourt players and two additional players from any position, but were not permitted to choose players from their team.
The 14 reserve players that will join the 10 starters:
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Joel Embiid, 76ers
Ja Morant, Grizzlies
DeMar DeRozan, Bulls
Domantas Sabonis, Kings
Jaylen Brown, Celtics
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder
Bam Adebayo, Heat
Paul George, Clippers
Jrue Holiday, Bucks
Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers
Julius Randle, Knicks
Lauri Markkanen, Jazz
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers
Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies
With the rosters set, Rookie Wire took a look at some of the biggest snubs from the announcement of the reserves. It should be stated that some of these players could eventually make it as replacement players for those All-Stars who may be injured.
It would be hard for him to recreate the magic of 2016, but the dunk contest clearly means a lot to Gordon. In fact, the Denver forward says that he wears No. 50 for the Nuggets to represent a perfect score.
Although he has sworn that he will never do the dunk contest again, Gordon recently told SI.com’s Rohan Nadkarni that he would do the dunk contest if he made the All-Star Game.
Aaron Gordon has an offer for the NBA.
“If I’m in the All-Star game, I’ll do the Dunk Contest.”
Gordon would be an excellent addition to a dunk contest that is currently highlighted by Portland Trail Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe, Houston Rockets forward K.J. Martin, and Mac McClung — the first-ever G League player to participate in the dunk contest.
It would be very nice to see Gordon, who already threw down the best dunk of the season thus far, back in the dunk contest. But it would be just as good to see him in the All-Star Game, and he deserves a spot.
The Nuggets are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and Gordon is in the midst of the best season he has ever played. Based on his productivity, an All-Star nod is well within reason.
As his rim frequency reaches a career-high (he trails Giannis Antetokounmpo by five for the most dunks in the NBA), his shooting efficiency is also better than ever.
Denver’s point differential with Gordon on the floor ranks as the third-best in the league and advanced stats — like Estimated Plus-Minus — suggest that he is having his most impactful season to date.
Gordon, who is also shooting a personal-best 37.6 percent on 3-pointers, is a do-it-all forward for the Nuggets and he is integral to all of their success on the court.
He has found a perfect role within their organization and he would be a fantastic addition to the 2023 NBA All-Star Game and the 2023 NBA Dunk Contest.
Aaron Gordon has the second-most dunks of anyone in the NBA this season.
Denver’s Aaron Gordon is no stranger to absolutely ridiculous dunks.
The 6-foot-9 forward from the University of Arizona had two of the all-time best performances in the history of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, though he failed to win in either 2016 or 2020.
Gordon has thrown down 85 dunks so far this season, which ranks as the second-best in the NBA behind only Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He had 7 dunks against the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day. That was the second-highest total of his career and tied for the most on record in an NBA game played on Christmas.
But he had one dunk in overtime that probably should have counted for six dunks because it was so impressive and had such a high impact on the final outcome of the game.
Gordon sprinted the ball up the court in transition before he eventually took off from an impossibly far distance. Phoenix’s Landry Shamet was waiting to take a charge, but Gordon was already set to take flight.
The officials originally called a charge on Gordon but reversed the call and Denver increased their 1-point lead to a 3-point deficit.
You can watch every angle of Gordon’s wild accomplishment below:
This was a big win for the Nuggets, who now enjoy sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.
Gordon, meanwhile, is enjoying what is arguably the best campaign of his professional career thus far. He has become one of the most efficient players in the league, especially when scoring at the rim.
In fact, the only players with more total shots made at the rim this season are just Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James.
Gordon, who is averaging 17.5 points per game and shooting a career-best 39.0 percent on 3-pointers, deserves serious consideration for the 2023 All-Star Game.
The Nuggets figured out the key to beating the Warriors’ new lineup
For the first time in three years, the Warriors are moving on to the second round of the postseason after putting the Nuggets away. They’ll either play the Memphis Grizzlies or the Minnesota Timberwolves.
They did it by finally winning their first closeout game in the postseason since the 2019 Western Conference Finals. Of course, it wasn’t easy. Closeout games are almost never easy.
But in this particular game, the Warriors struggled quite a bit. After building a small lead against the Nuggets in the first half, the Warriors fell down by as much as 10 going into the second.
But the wild part isn’t that the Nuggets built a double-digit lead — it’s who they did it against.
Remember the Warriors’ new “death lineup” everyone has been talking about? The Nuggets were absolutely cooking against it on Wednesday.
The lineup of Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins had a +34.4 net rating going into their closeout game against the Nuggets, per NBA.com’s stats tool. In Game 5 their net rating together was -37.5 in 7 total minutes played together.
Now, there are lots of caveats here. This is very obviously a super small sample pulled from a super small sample. They’ve only played five games together in the postseason so far and a seven-minute span within five games isn’t something we should make a big deal out of.
But at the same time, there were identifiable weaknesses in this lineup that opponents will surely pick apart in this lineup.
The biggest issue was its size — or a lack thereof. That was an issue that bore itself out through rebounding. The Nuggets won on the glass 50-37 which is a solid margin, but it only tells half the story. They also had 14 offensive rebounds in total, which is a huge number.
When you dig even deeper you see the Nuggets held the Warriors to a defensive rebounding rate of 50% when their “death lineup” was on the court. That means during those 7 minutes the Warriors only rebounded 50% of those Nuggets misses on defense. League average defensive rebounding rate for the regular season was 76.8%.
Basically, the Warriors were dreadful at finishing off defensive possessions in Game 5. The Nuggets’ size was just too much. Charles Barkley put it perfectly when talking about how Aaron Gordon was the Nuggets’ key to victory.
"Aaron Gordon should be killing them little munchkins." 😂
“They put them 4 lil dudes out there. He is bigger than everybody else…[The Warriors] are great on one end of the floor but they can’t rebound the ball and they’ve got no size.”
Barkley was exactly right. It’s how Aaron Gordon got five offensive rebounds in the game. That lack of size also led to easy offensive boards like this one for Nikola Jokic.
That’s the exact thing the Warriors’ death lineup has no defense against. They’re just too small to rebound and closeout possessions. They can score like nobody’s business and they might get the initial stop. But if you’re a big enough team, you’ll be able to take advantage of that.
The Warriors figured that out and countered it with their original starting lineup to give them a bit of size with Kevon Looney. That move won them the game.
So now, moving forward, Golden State is faced with a big question. Steph Curry is starting again. But does that mean you have to feature this new lineup? Or do you go back to what works and keep your death lineup as a curveball teams have to be ready for?
I’m not quite sure what the answer is. But the Warriors should probably figure that out before they figure out who they’re playing next.
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It’s not too late for these three players to turn it around.
Everything in the NBA playoffs is magnified. A big missed free throw here and a blown coverage there can make all the difference in the outcome of a series.
And like those handfuls of plays that swing the pendulum one way or the other, a viewer can often directly pinpoint which players are impacting wins and losses. It could be as simple as the star player either taking the game over or underwhelming. And other times it’s the role players who either rise to the occasion or don’t.
Such is the case for tonight’s three-game NBA slate. Let’s highlight a few guys who have not been good enough but could help their teams get back on track with big games Thursday.
Houston led by 5 points late, but Denver’s Aaron Gordon hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final two minutes to win the game by a point.
For a third consecutive game, the young Houston Rockets led well into the second half, on the road against a perceived Western Conference contender. But for a third straight time, they couldn’t close it out, and they’re now 1-8 on the season with seven consecutive losses.
After taking a 94-89 lead into the final two minutes, Aaron Gordon connected on back-to-back 3-pointers as the host Denver Nuggets (5-4) rallied to Saturday’s 95-94 victory (box score). Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic collected a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds.
Daniel Theis (18 points, 66.7% FG) led the Rockets in scoring and hit a big 3-pointer to put his team up by 5 points with 2:46 left. Unfortunately, that was the last point that Houston would score. Jae’Sean Tate had his last-second attempt at a potential winning shot blocked by Jokic.
“We needed this,” Theis said in a deflated postgame interview. “We worked so hard, and we still end up losing.”
See below for highlights from Saturday’s game, and read on for our assessment of individual Houston performances. Grades are limited to players who had clear rotation minutes, since anything less wouldn’t represent a sufficient enough sample to evaluate. Grades are also decided relative to a player’s average performance — in other words, the standard for Christian Wood is higher than for David Nwaba.
Fun fact about Aaron Gordon, y’all. He’s got the most 50 scores in NBA Dunk Contest history. Despite that fact, he has never actually won one.
Part of that is Dwyane Wade’s fault. He wrongly gave Gordon a 9 in the dunk contest last year and essentially robbed him of a win. It was a pretty wild sequence of events.
But that fun fact is why he wears No. 50 now in Denver — because he’s got the most dunk contest 50’s ever with no win.
So, of course, it was hilarious when he explained that to Dwyane Wade himself.
“I mean, it spoke to me man. You know I got the most 50’s ever in the dunk contest. It’s a good number for me. I feel like it’s strong, it’s powerful. It just spoke to me, man. I really…I’m rocking with it.”
EL. OH. EL. That’s hilarious, man. Dwyane Wade knew what he was doing. Shaq trolled Wade after he asked Gordon his question.
The NBA trade deadline is here and there has been absolute chaos all day as players find new teams in one of the most exciting days of the season. One of those players who is on the move is former Spartan Gary Harris, who will be heading to the Orlando Magic.
Harris will now play in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast division, along with fellow Spartan Miles Bridges who is on the Charlotte Hornets.
Harris was traded in a deal that moved Aaron Gordon to the Denver Nuggets.
Denver and Orlando have agreed on the Aaron Gordon deal, sources tell ESPN. Among the players on the way to Orlando: Gary Harris.
