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Alternate Angles of Aaron Gordon's Buzzer-Beater Equally Devastating for Clippers Fans

A series-shifting second.

Kyle Koster

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon celebrates his game-winning dunk at Intuit Dome.
Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon celebrates his game-winning dunk at Intuit Dome. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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The Los Angeles Clippers erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets, only to realize a more devastating defeat than a comfortable thumping would have been as Aaron Gordon slammed home a Nikola Jokic miss at the buzzer. It was about as close as one of these decisions could possibly be but the game-deciding bucket was ruled to be off in time, just before the red light went on signaling regulation had expired.

Gordon's heroics leveled up the series at 2-2 and regained homecourt advantage for the Nuggets. Had the Clippers been able to carry their momentum into overtime it may have been a much different story.

The putback dunk at the final horn is a pretty rare play and, as you can see in clips from the court, one of the more shocking ways to lose. Listen as the life goes out of that building in Los Angeles as something no one expected to happen ... happens.

Game 5, which will go a long way in deciding who advances, is Tuesday night.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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