Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is one of the best in-game dunkers in the NBA, capable of throwing one down no matter who may be waiting in the paint. Late in the fourth quarter on Monday night, however, there were no defenders in his path, just open space and the basket as he rose up for what should have been his easiest points of the night.
Instead, he somehow slammed the ball into the back of the rim so hard that it ricocheted all the way out of bounds. And instead of the Nuggets going up 99-98 with less than three minutes to play, they remained down 98-97.
A few minutes later, the Nuggets walked off the floor shaking their heads in disbelief after a 105-102 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 2 of the teams’ thrilling first-round playoff series, which is now all tied up at 1-1.
While Gordon’s slam didn’t directly cost the Nuggets the game — they were tied with less than two minutes to play and had multiple chances to force overtime — it highlighted a parade of miscues the team made throughout the night in a narrow loss.
“It just seemed like every time we got back in it, tied it, took the lead, a multitude of mistakes would follow that,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “Just felt uphill all night.”
The Nuggets had 20 turnovers in Game 2, which was the first time they had reached the 20-turnover mark in a postseason game since 2022. Nikola Jokic had seven of them, which tied a season high and was one shy of his career high in a playoff game. They were 14th in the league in the regular season with a 14% turnover rate, and only turned it over 11 times in Game 1, but just could not take care of the ball on Monday. Five of their turnovers in Game 2 came in the fourth quarter, including two in the final 1:35.
During one particularly damaging sequence, Michael Porter Jr. grabbed a rebound with 1:40 to play and the score tied at 100-100. It seemed as though he wanted to throw an outlet pass to Gordon, but Gordon’s head was down so he tried to change his mind at the last second. By that point, though, the ball was out of his hands. Porter hit the deck in pain, and a few seconds later Norman Powell hit a 3-pointer to put the Clippers up for good as Porter struggled to get back to his feet.
Then, with just over 30 seconds to play, Jokić had a critical turnover when he threw a bad pass that was picked off by Kawhi Leonard. While the Clippers didn’t capitalize on the other end, the Nuggets lost a chance to cut into the lead and valuable time came off the clock.
Denver also missed eight free throws, going 14 of 22 from the line. That was the first time the team had taken at least 20 free throws and shot under 65% in a playoff game since 2023. Again, Jokić was a key culprit, as he shot just 6 of 10 from the line. As a team, the Nuggets shot 77% on free throws during the regular season, which ranked 23rd in the league, so it’s not super surprising that the issue would rear its head in the postseason. However, you wouldn’t expect an 80% free-throw shooter like Jokić to miss key free throws for a second consecutive game.
As expected, this has been an incredible series and extremely competitive. The aggregate score is Clippers 115, Nuggets 114, and neither game has been decided by more than three points.
In matchups like this, it all comes down to execution and limiting mistakes. The Clippers turned the ball over 20 times in their Game 1 loss, while the Nuggets did the same in their Game 2 defeat.
As the action shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3, taking care of the ball should be a major point of emphasis on both sides.