Aaron Gordon flushes buzzer-beater dunk, Nuggets tie series with Clippers 2-2 ...Middle East

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Aaron Gordon wished he didn’t have to turn around. The sooner he got out of Intuit Dome, the better.

But he had to turn back for a replay review before he could sprint to the locker room, and he’ll have to return again next Thursday for Game 6, because his buzzer-beating dunk off a Nikola Jokic air-ball handed the Nuggets a series-tying 101-99 Game 4 win over the Clippers on Saturday.

First, the Nuggets wilted. They led by 22 early in the fourth quarter but could not withstand an earthquake of a run from their hosts. They stopped defending. They gave up blow-by layups and dunks. They over-helped from the corners and surrendered open 3s. Their shots stopped falling. Their legs looked tired.

Bogdan Bogdanovic beat his countryman Jokic for an offensive rebound and go-ahead put-back layup with a little over a minute to play. Jokic answered with a game-tying free throw, then a nasty fade-away bucket in the post to give Denver a 99-97 lead with 16.1 seconds left.

Clippers center Ivica Zubac tied it with another play on the offensive glass. It seemed Denver was outclassed in those hustle spaces. But Gordon, the consummate junkyard dog who accepted James Harden’s invite to throw hands earlier in the game, prevailed with the ultimate clean-up play.

Jokic heaved another tough shot in isolation. It was wide left. Gordon flushed it, narrowly getting his fingers off the ball with 0.1 seconds to go. He tried to race off the court and toward Game 5 before realizing the bucket was under review.

Jokic was N.C. State’s Dereck Whittenburg. Gordon was Lorenzo Charles. And the Nuggets will host a Game 5 on Tuesday after two much-needed days off. Four starters, including Jokic, played the entire fourth quarter.

“Trying to find breaks at the right time,” interim coach David Adelman had said before the game, stressing that his starters would have to play intense minutes — especially without injured sixth man Russell Westbrook. “Using the TV timeouts as best we can. You hate to use timeouts to rest players, but sometimes you have to do that in these games. … It’s Game 4. We’re down 2-1. Our main people, they’re gonna roll. They’re gonna play a lot.”

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The series reached a boiling point early in the game. With six seconds remaining in the first half, Christian Braun purposefully reached in on James Harden, as he often does when the Nuggets have a foul to give before halftime. Harden took exception and got in Braun’s amused-looking face, causing Gordon and Jokic to intervene. Harden tried to take a swipe at Gordon’s face, setting Gordon off. As he pursued Harden through a crowd of Nuggets and Clippers, his hand made seemingly inadvertent contact with Norman Powell’s face.

That was the extent of the fireworks show. Sides were separated, and the officials determined nobody had acted out enough to warrant an ejection. Six offsetting technical fouls were issued to Harden, Powell, Kris Dunn, Gordon, Braun and Jokic. No free throws. Carry on.

Before the first possession of the second half, Harden and Gordon even appeared to be laughing while they had a quick chat.

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