May 14, 2024, 11:15 a.m. ET
Aaron Gordon came to the Denver Nuggets as a defensive specialist, but he has evolved into the player who solves any problem the team faces.
“I learned altruism from Nikola Jokic. “He’s the best basketball player in the world, a three-time MVP, and he’s the most selfless, humble guy you’ll ever meet.”
Who says this is Aaron Gordon he Super Hero hidden from Denver Nuggets. The spare wheel, the X factor, the humility that any contender needs to achieve objectives. To break barriers. Jokic and its bohemia are in themselves a message: the famous Formula One racer Juan Manuel Fangio already said it, “you always have to try to be the best but never believe yourself to be the best.”
Editorial Selections
2 Related
That maxim is easy to say but very difficult to do. In an American culture where individualism is rewarded every time the alarm goes off, Jokic He became the best player in the world thanks to applying a different recipe. The fable of the tortoise and the hare: it is not important to arrive faster but to arrive better. And once he achieved it, with last season’s title, with the three MVPs that only serve as a distinction to signal that the path taken is the correct one, he spread that message in the Nuggets locker room. AND Gordon He was the one who internalized that invisible guideline and applied it to perfection.
Gordon came to Denver three seasons ago as a defensive specialist. He could attack, of course, but he came to succeed Jerami Grant as the balance of a team that needed to add little things. The highlight of him in the NBA was a contradiction in itself: the average basketball fan remembered Gordon for his unforgettable 2016 Slam Dunk Contest, but his game had little to do with that individual brilliance. He was never comfortable with that measurement of egos between stars. Real winners are willing to make personal sacrifice for the common good.
And Gordon will be remembered, from his arrival to Denver, like a multipurpose knife: thousands of defensive and offensive functions to unblock any problem that arises.
“He was our best player tonight,” he said. Jokic at the close of the game. “He did everything,” she added.
Los Timberwolves they came to Minnesota 2-0 up in the series. The sensations were the best. It was not unreasonable days ago to think about a sweep of the team Anthony Edwards (a serious phenomenon, at only 22 years old he is ready for big things), Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert y Mike Conley, among others. But Denver came up with the same formula Minnesota used in Game 2: defense.
In the fourth game, Gordon once again dominated in that department. He was rewarded by Mike Malone in the locker room for his efforts, and it was well deserved. Because he is no longer just the X Factor of the Nuggets: he is the example of the X Factor of every role player who is willing to see minutes in the NBA. When someone asks about that term, show them a photo of Aaron Gordon. Accompany it with a video if necessary. He is a superstar determined to descend to the ground of mortals. Gordon’s thing, in short, is a decision: a Scottie Pippen 3.0 who doesn’t need applause or pats on the back to do his job.
On defense, he limited his rivals to 1-13 in field goals. It was not just the quality of his footwork, but the force used to, for example, contain a rampaging Towns who crashed again and again into this frustration-player. Facing him must be desperate, because he takes away powers. He takes away the desire.
In attack, Gordon He had an elite shot selection: he started 10-10 and according to ESPN’s statistics department, he became the first Nuggets player to score his first ten shots in a game in the last 25 postseasons. And he was the first player in franchise history to score at least 25 points on 90% shooting from the field. “May inspiration find you working,” could justly be Gordon’s leitmotif.
“A lot of his shots were defended, so if Gordon turns into Kobe Bryant, we’ll just have to live with that,” Gobert said after the game. To good old Rudy, Defensive Player of the Year, He made him 5-5 on the court.
Despite all this, the most striking fact is another: its reconversion in the transfer. Joining as a Kawhi Leonard-style point-forward gave his team solutions. He thus avoided the suffocating defense on Murray and also gave the Canadian freedom to hurt.
According to Second Spectrum, Gordon brought the ball on 27 possessions during Game 4, his most since joining the Nuggets in 2021, including regular series and playoffs. And on those drives, Denver averaged 1.19 points per possession.
“I love it when people stop taking us into account,” Gordon said. “A lot of the guys on the team weren’t considered earlier in their careers. They’ve already been in this position, with their backs against the wall, with people thinking they couldn’t do it.”
“So I don’t think it was anything new on an individual level. It was new on a collective level. I liked the challenge and I’m glad that we faced it to put ourselves back in a good position, with the home field advantage,” Gordon concluded.
Magic Johnson once said it: “Ask not what the team can do for you, but ask what you can do for the team.”
Now, with Game 5 in sight in Denver, and the tie tied at two games apiece, Gordon once again puts a maxim on the table: never underestimate the heart of a champion. Like yesterday. Like today.
As usual.
2024-05-14 15:15:00
#Aaron #Gordon #hidden #superhero #Denver #Nuggets
