CNN
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A dramatic, historic buzzer-beating dunk by Aaron Gordon sparked wild celebrations on Saturday night as the Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 101-99 to tie their playoff first round series 2-2.
With 1.8 seconds remaining, Nikola Jokić’s airball appeared to signal that the game was headed to overtime with the scores tied at 99. But Gordon had other ideas, slamming the ball down with 0.1 seconds on the clock before wheeling away in jubilation.
What followed was nearly three minutes of suspense as Gordon and Co. waited on the court for the referees to determine whether he had released the ball before the buzzer had sounded. When it was announced that he had, the Nuggets’ celebrations restarted in earnest, and boos rang out from the crowd at Intuit Dome.
Whether they wanted to or not, the LA crowd had just witnessed NBA history – Gordon’s slam was the first game-winning, buzzer-beating dunk ever made in the playoffs since the dawn of the detailed play-by-play era in 1997-98.
“Nice pass,” Gordon joked with Jokić at their post-game press conference.
“Joker was trying to get in his bag with the Sombor Shuffle. He’s made shots like that before. So, I’m just trying to clean up everything on the glass. He shot it with enough time to give us a chance to rebound it,” the former Slam Dunk Contest finalist added. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”
The Nuggets led by two points at halftime, but arguably the most notable event up to that point had come with 6.6 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
When James Harden was fouled by Christian Braun near midcourt, Harden began exchanging words with the Nuggets shooting guard. The resulting skirmish saw Gordon rush in and catch Norman Powell’s face with an open hand.
Despite Clippers fans chanting “Kick him out!” Gordon received a technical foul, along with Harden, Braun, Powell, Jokić and Kris Dunn.
Denver went from strength to strength in the third quarter, outscoring LA 35-17 to open up an 85-65 lead. But, spurred on by 10 points by Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers fought back in the fourth quarter and took the lead for the first time in the game with 1:11 remaining thanks to Bogdan Bogdanović’s offensive rebound and basket.
A free throw and a basket from Jokić made it 99-97, before Ivica Zubac appeared to send the game to overtime. Gordon’s heroics ensured that would not be the case.
Gordon finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Jokić led the scoring with 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists – in doing so becoming only the fourth player in NBA history to rack up at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and eight assists in a playoff game.
Braun and Michael Porter Jr. each added 17 points for Denver, while Leonard led the scoring for the Clippers with 24 points, nine rebounds and two assists.
It is the second time in the series that the Nuggets have prevailed by fine margins – they won Game 1 by two points in overtime. Game 5 takes place in Denver on Tuesday night.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Steph Curry ensured that the Golden State Warriors did not miss the injured Jimmy Butler, racking up 36 points, seven rebounds and nine assists in a 104-93 win over the Houston Rockets to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder became the first team to make it to the second round of the playoffs, completing a four-game sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 117-115 victory. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was back to his best after a difficult first three games in the series for the NBA MVP favorite, scoring 38 points.