Aaron Gordon turnedNikola Jokić’s airball into NBA history as time expired in the Denver Nuggets’NBAplayoff win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Gordon swarmed the glass and slammed down Jokić’s miss to seal his team’s 101-99 win and tie their playoff series with the Clippers 2-2.
“Nice pass,” Gordon said, with a smile, after the game.
Jokić attempted a turnaround three-pointer over Ivica Zubac as the clock ran down. His thoughts as he saw it was going to soar past the rim? “This is going to be bad,” Jokić said.
Gordon’s basket was ruled good by the referees before it was automatically reviewed at the NBA’s replay center in New Jersey. The official there confirmed the ball left Gordon’s hands above the rim before the buzzer sounded after the Nuggets had blown a 22-point lead.
The NBA said it was the first game-winning, buzzer-beating dunk in the playoffs since the play-by-play era began in 1997-98.
It was the Clippers’ second heartbreaking loss of the series, having dropped Game 1 by two points in overtime.
“It’s still a series, best-of-three,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Jokić had 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Nuggets. Michael Porter Jr and Christian Braun had 17 points apiece. Leonard scored 24 points. Norman Powell added 22 and Zubac had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
The Nuggets split their two games at the new Intuit Dome. Game 5 is Monday in Denver. “This is going to be a dogfight every single game,” Powell said.A skirmish between the teams near the end of the first half resulted in six technical fouls, including on Jokić.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Stephen Curry eventually found his shooting groove, finishing with 36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lead the Golden State Warriors past the Houston Rockets 104-93 for a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series. The Warriors won without Jimmy Butler, who sat out the game with a pelvic injury. Buddy Hield scored 17 points off the bench with five three-pointers as the Warriors won their sixth straight Game 3 in the opening round. Gary Payton II scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
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Coach Steve Kerr isn’t sure how long the Warriors will be without Butler, who has helped the team to a 25-9 record since a February trade from the Heat. An MRI Thursday revealed that he injured his pelvis and has a deep gluteal muscle contusion.
Elsewhere, Jarrett Allen scored 22 points, De’Andre Hunter added 21 and the Cleveland Cavaliers – bullying Miami all day – handed the Heat their worst playoff loss with a 124-87 win to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.The Cavs took control with a 33-5 run early, outrebounded Miami 46-29 and outscored the Heat 60-30 in the paint.
In Saturday’s other game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points and Oklahoma City advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals by beating Memphis to complete a four-game sweep.
Jalen Williams added 23 points for the top-seeded Thunder, who led the NBA with a 68-14 record this season and became the first team to reach the second round. They await the winner of the Nuggets-Clippers series.
The Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant, who bruised his left hip in a hard fall in Game 3.