Aaron Gordon slammed down a dunk as time expired to give the Denver Nuggets a dramatic and much-needed 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday in Game 4 of their first-round series at Inglewood, Calif.
Nikola Jokic airballed a 3-pointer as the clock wound down and Gordon leaped to catch the ball and released his dunk just before the red light came on the backboard. A replay review upheld the ruling and the basket allowed Denver to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at two games apiece.
“You could say it was a lucky play but Aaron is a big athletic man,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “He met the ball early. I couldn’t tell if it was good or not. I was preparing for overtime. …
“That’s going to be on NBA TV someday and I’m glad we won the game. I’m glad it will be on Nuggets Day and not Clippers Day.”
Jokic had 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists as the fourth-seeded Nuggets bounced back from a 117-83 pummeling in Game 3 on the road.
Kawhi Leonard registered 24 points and nine rebounds and Norman Powell scored 22 for the fifth-seeded Clippers.
“This was really big for us,” Gordon said. “We did what we came here to do and that was get homecourt advantage back.”
Game 5 is Tuesday at Denver.
Los Angeles trailed by 22 in the fourth quarter before making a 32-9 charge to take its first lead of the contest with 1:11 left in the game.
“We picked up our intensity and were being more aggressive,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. “… We kind of got them off-guard and surprised them and took advantage of that. The fourth quarter is when we really executed and did what we were supposed to do.”
Powell hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 96-95 with 1:55 remaining before Bogdan Bogdanvoic scored on a putback to cap a 12-0 run and put the Clippers ahead for less than 13 seconds.
A short time later, Jokic swished a turnaround jumper to give Denver a 99-97 edge with 16.1 seconds remaining. Los Angeles tied it up on Ivica Zubac’s tip-in with eight seconds to go.
“It was tough,” Leonard said. “I’m glad we fought. We didn’t lay down. We rallied back. This is the NBA. They made a great play.”
Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun added 17 points for the Nuggets and Gordon added 14. Jamal Murray had 13 points but was just 5 of 17 from the field.
Zubac had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Los Angeles. James Harden added 15 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who shot 44.3 percent from the field and 10 of 30 from 3-point range.
Denver’s Russell Westbrook (left foot) missed the contest. He was injured in Game 3.
The Nuggets shot 46 percent from the field and were 10 of 30 from behind the arc.
Denver outscored the Clippers 35-17 in the third quarter to open up an 85-65 lead.
Braun hit a 3-pointer to cap a 9-0 burst as the Nuggets led 76-60 with 1:58 left in the third. Murray’s layup with 3.1 seconds to go gave Denver the 20-point advantage.
Jokic scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to give the Nuggets a game-high 22-point lead.
But the Clippers answered with an 18-4 surge and Leonard’s steal and dunk brought Los Angeles within 91-83 with 4:51 left.
Denver led 96-85 on a 3-pointer by Murray with 3:42 left before the Clippers went on the 12-0 spurt.
Jokic had 15 first-half points as the Nuggets led 50-48 at the break.
–Field Level Media
