Wade's 9 points infuriated Gordon and crushed the Heat
At the 2020 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, Gordon performed extremely well, and he successfully reached the finals. In the final, his opponent was junior Derek Jones, and Gordon gave fans the greatest dunk moment in NBA history, but he only finished runner-up. The reason was that Jones was from the Heat, and Wade was a judge for the Slam Dunk contest at the time, and Wade gave Gordon a 9 points "very picky." Wade's behavior caused the biggest wrongful case in the history of the Dunk Dunk Contest, and Gordon decided not to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest again, and the Slam Dunk Contest has since become dull. What Wade didn't know was that his behavior also punished the Heat 3 years later.
In the 2023 NBA Finals G4, Gordon scored a game-high 27 points and 6 rebounds at home with the Heat, he hit 11 of 15 shots and made 3 of 4 three-pointers, helping the Nuggets get the Finals match point. It should be noted that Wade was present to watch the game in this game, and Gordon was hot in front of Wade and avenged the 1-point revenge of the year.
Gordon has been excellent in the Finals against the Heat, playing in five games, averaging 14 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3 assists in 35 minutes per game, shooting 60 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range. It is worth mentioning that his plus-minus is as high as +61, the highest ranking of all players in the finals, and the third highest plus-minus in the finals of the past decade.
The Nuggets' championship journey this season was a 4-1 win over the Timberwolves, with Gordon defending Towns; 4-2 win over the Suns, Gordon defends Durant; 4-0 sweep of the Lakers, Gordon defends James; 4-1 against the Heat, Gordon defended Butler. Throughout the playoffs, Gordon averaged 36 minutes per game, scoring 13.3 points, 6 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three-point range. Judging by the data, Gordon has improved when facing the Heat in the Finals. It should be Wade's 1-point bonus.
Gordon's role for the Nuggets is not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end. As the main defender, Gordon limited opponents to 39.8 percent shooting, including 27.1 percent from three-point range. Facing Downs in the first round, he shot 36 percent from the field, including 11 percent from three-point range. In the second round, Booker faced him with 43 percent shooting and Durant 39 percent. Despite being mediocre in defending James, Gordon kept the Heat shooting at 30 percent from the field and he interfered with 70 percent of his opponents' shots.
Finals G1, under Gordon's defense, Butler scored only 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting, so Spoh changed formations in G2, let Love start, let Butler escape Gordon's defense, and it did work, Butler scored 21 points and 9 assists on 7-of-19 shooting, and the Heat also equalized the score. Then the theme of the Finals became the following: the Nuggets wanted Gordon to defend Butler alone, but the Heat didn't let Gordon defend Butler through substitutions or blocks, but the Nuggets made adjustments and had to let Gordon defend Butler.
Under Gordon's defense, Butler's shooting percentage in 5 games was 6 of 14, 7 of 19, 11 of 24, 12 of 28, and 5 of 18. It was Butler's downturn that allowed the Nuggets to easily win the championship.
That's why we brought in Gordon, he's physically strong, athletic, tough and very selfless. Jokic said: Gordon played different roles, he sacrificed himself, that's why he's a good teammate.
In the 2014 NBA Draft, Aaron Gordon was selected by the Orlando Magic with the 4th pick in the first round, while his teammate Jokic was selected by the Nuggets with the 41st pick. On March 26, 2021, Aaron Gordon was traded by the Magic to the Denver Nuggets, and Jokic had become the Nuggets boss at this time. Gordon's addition makes up for the Nuggets' lack of forward height and size, and is a perfect piece of the championship puzzle.
After the G1 Finals, when it came to why he was so aggressive against the Heat, Gordon was clearly worried about missing the dunk. He said: You know, I gave the greatest dunk moment in NBA history, but unfortunately, Wade was never willing to give me a full score, which made me lose the dunk king, and I still think about it.
Now I'm finally in a moment of revenge, we're standing across from Wade's Heat, so at this point you can probably understand why I'm playing so hard, I'm going to defend Butler in the next game, I'm going to keep him completely locked, and now I'm going to sweep the Heat 4-0 to win the championship, and I'm going to make Wade regret the stupid decision that year.
After the Finals, the NBA may also have deliberately arranged for Wade to interview Gordon for the sake of topical effects. Wade asked: Why did you pick No. 50 in the Nuggets? Gordon replied: "I should have worn this number, I got the most 50 points in the dunk contest, it was a good number for me, it gave me strength, I played well when I wore this number. Wade had to reply awkwardly: This number looks good in your clothes.
Wade favored Heat junior Jones at the time, giving Gordon 9 points, making Gordon the uncrowned king of the dunk contest. Since then, Gordon has not participated in the Slam Dunk Contest, focusing on the basics and gladly accepting any role the team offers. The gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late, facing the Heat in this finals, Gordon has a big revenge. Sooner or later, Wade's account was credited to the Heat, and in the end, the Heat endured all this.