INGLEWOOD, Calif. − Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon positioned himself to be the villain in the eyes of the Los Angeles Clippers’ home crowd Saturday night.
Gordon secured a 101-99 victory for the Nuggets with a putback dunk with .01 seconds left on the clock. Gordon had an opportunity to collect the rebound before the clock expired after Nikola Jokić’s 3-pointer fell short of the basket.
“Joker shot an airball and we weren’t expecting that,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said. “(Christian) Braun cut to the middle of the floor and James (Harden) and Norman (Powell) were in between trying to check with him and Gordon made a hell of a play. It is what it is.’
Gordon began running toward the tunnel as he celebrated, but was called back by teammates to stay on the court as officials reviewed the play.
The Clippers rallied from a 22-point deficit in the second half and even briefly held a one-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“It was tough, but I’m glad we fought and we didn’t lay down being down 20 in the fourth quarter,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said. “We kept fighting and rallied back. That’s the NBA. They made a great play.”
Powell was pivotal to the team’s comeback attempt, scoring nine points in the final period while going 3-for-3 from long range.
The matchup also featured a scuffle that led to six players receiving technical fouls after things got heated in the final seconds of the first half.
Braun and Harden exchanged words before a brief scuffle began. Braun was initially called for a personal foul. The two were seen earlier in the game getting chippy with one another.
Officials assigned techs to Harden, Powell and Kris Dunn of the Clippers after a review. Jokic, Gordon and Braun of Denver also received techs.
‘After the altercation, we went to the video review, and looking at all the angles, we felt everyone involved had an equitable role in the altercation,’ crew chief Zach Zarba said in a pool report after the game. ‘Due to that, they were all given equitable penalties.’
Gordon received consistent boos from Clippers fans throughout the second half when he touched the ball because Gordon’s hand made contact with Powell’s face.
In the moments after the scrum broke out, Gordon’s actions were shown on the Halo board at the Intuit Dome. Fans chanted, ‘Kick him out.’
The officials stated after the review that nobody would be ejected from the game, as nobody was seen on the replay throwing an intentional closed-fisted punch.
“They were aggressive, the way they were supposed to be, being down 2-1 (in the series),” Lue said of the Nuggets’ play in Game 4. “We didn’t meet that intensity until the fourth quarter. That’s just a lesson for us. We just have to stay the course and do what we have to do.”
Nuggets dealing with injuries
The Nuggets had a pair of players who were considered game-time decisions before the start of Game 4.
Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook are dealing with injuries.
Porter came out of the Nuggets’ locker room with the team and participated in the layup line. While he didn’t have a hoodie on like his teammates, he did have his game jersey on. There was a taped pad visible on his left shoulder.
Porter finished with 17 points, four rebounds and two assists in 42 minutes of play.
Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook did not play in Game 4 after he was initially a game-time decision. Westbrook was a limited participant in Game 3 on Thursday after being injured during pregame warmups.
The former Clipper scored three points, and had a rebound and an assist in nine minutes of play. He shot 1-for-5 from the field (all attempts from the 3-point line).
Second-round opponent set
The winner of this series knows who’s next.
The Oklahoma City Thunder closed out their first-round series Saturday, sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies. The Thunder will meet the winner of the Nuggets-Clippers series in the second round.
Clippers-Nuggets next game
The Clippers will travel to play the Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver for Game 5. The game is scheduled to air on TNT at 10 p.m. ET on April 29.