Let me be clear…Aaron Gordon’s game winning three with 2.5 seconds left wasn’t his best play of the night. His best play of the night was when he postered Chet Holmgren for the best dunk of this post season so far.
Aaron’s game winner came with 2.5 seconds left in regulation as the Nuggets came off of two missed throws by the same Chet Holmgren with 9.5 seconds left. The Nuggets trailed by one, but had no timeouts remaining. This is the kind of stuff which keeps MJ blogging on the underground in radical right Trumpy Oklahoma.
So after Chet bricked both critical free throws, Christian Braun moved the ball to midcourt to a waiting Russell Westbrook.
Russell calmly moved the ball up court on the right side of the floor to about the top of the key area then executed a picture perfect cross-court pass into the arms of a streaking Aaron Gordon on the left wing. Aaron gathered himself, locked, loaded…and then went nothing but net over the flailing arms of the same Chet Holmgren who bricked the two most important free throws in his pro career.
Aaron gets the game winner. Russell gets the primary assist, and the Nuggets get an improbable Game 1 win in a game in which they trailed pretty much all the way going back to a 24-22 first quarter lead.
Despite what the big NBA thinkers on the Sports Animal in Oklahoma think…the only sweep in play right now is if the Nuggets win the next three games to sweep the Thunder with the best player in the league leading the way.
Shai will win the Kia regular season MVP and he deserves the award. But I can pretty much assure you every GM in the NBA knows who the best player in the league is. Jokic was superb. He never surrendered in this game even when the Nuggets were live ball turn-overing the ball and a blowout in Game 1 seemed plausible.
But Jokic never surrendered. He went for 42 points, 22 rebounds, and 6 assists. Plus, he did what all great players do…he coached his team from within and carried his mates on his broad shoulders to a point where Aaron, Christian, Jamal, and Russell could help him steal Game 1 in Oklahoma City.
Michael Porter was brutal. He did not see the floor in the final four minutes. Nice job there by Coach Adelman. Coach Adelman only went with seven players on the night and DeAndre Jordan was not one of them. Peyton Watson got minutes and Julian Strawther got a splash of minutes in the first half and made one layup.
This wasn’t even the Denver 6 we witnessed in Game 7 versus the LA Clippers. Instead it was the Denver 5 slaying the ‘unbeatable’ OKC Thunder on their home court as a Vegas 10.5 road underdog.
Michael Porter, buddy. I would have traded you at the deadline. But then GM Calvin Booth didn’t pull that trigger. Pull your link on the chain, buddy. Your teammates need something from you in the remaining games in this series if the Nuggets are to advance.
From the Thunder side. I thought they actually played pretty well in the second and third periods. They created plenty of points off live ball turnovers and I thought Alex Caruso was excellent. I thought Caruso was the Thunder’s best player in the game.
Now to Shai. He played fine. But here’s the thing…to be that guy being the best player on the best team…sometimes you have to be a bit of a prick. You have to possess that Kobe-Michael-Steph-Timmy-LeBron edgy side of your personna. You can’t always be the sweetest nice guy in the league.
So…Game 2 on Wednesday night in OKC. The Nuggets are operating on house money is the way I see it. They already have what they desperately wanted in this first two games in OKC…that being a split. Which now brings into play the possibility of Denver ending this series in Game 6 in Ball Arena.
And, hey….you Sports Animal listners and Daily Thunder readers…if you want to learn something about the NBA now and again–MJ is here for you.
Have a nice Tuesday, Oklahoma.
Mike J