On the morning of May 13, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the Denver Nuggets continued to challenge the Minnesoda Timberwolves away. After four quarters of fierce battle, they finally defeated their opponents 115-107, won two consecutive victories, and rewrote the series score to 2-2.
In this game, the Nuggets twin stars Jokic and Murray both played well. The former played 39 minutes and finished with 35 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals on 15-of-26 shooting, while the latter also played 39 minutes and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and eight assists on 8-of-17 shooting. However, the biggest contributor to their victory in this game was not the twins, but Gordon.
In 41 minutes played, Gordon made 11 of 12 shots, scored 27 points, and added seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks. On the offensive end, Gordon played like a kaleidoscope, not only using his mobility, constantly interspersed with open cuts, repeatedly hitting the basket, but also making 2 shots from beyond the three-point line, successfully transferring Gobert, the opponent's best defender on the inside, out of the restricted area.
On the defensive end, he struggled against All-Star center Towns, who had just 13 points and 12 rebounds on 5-of-18 shooting. The stats show that when Gordon is on the floor, the Nuggets outscore opponents by as many as nine points and are the team's No. 1 starting five.
Counting this game, Gordon played 9 games for the Nuggets in the playoffs this year, averaging 38 minutes per game, 15.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists, with an overall shooting rate of 60.9% and a three-point shooting rate of 40.9%, of which the shooting percentage ranked first in the team, the average points per game was third in the team, the average rebounds per game was second in the team, and the average assists per game were third in the team.
In the series against the Timberwolves, Gordon performed particularly well, averaging 17.3 points, 4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game in 4 games, shooting 71.8% overall and an astonishing 72.7% from three-point range. It was his excellent play that kept Jokic from going it alone against the Gobert + Towns twin-tower combination.
As the No. 4 pick in the first round in 2014, Gordon has been in the league for 10 seasons, and during his time with the Magic, despite his excellent performances, the team was unable to win, and finally he asked for a trade from Orlando in 2021, and in 2021, he moved from Orlando to Denver, and it took only two seasons to help the team win the first championship in franchise history.
Also in 2021, the Nuggets and Gordon reached a 4-year, total value of $92 million in contract extensions, with an average salary of $23 million.