Aaron Gordon's dunk in regulation time gave the Denver Nuggets a 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada, BTA reported.
Gordon's performance came after a failed shot by his teammate Nikola Jokic, which he managed to control in the air and instantly direct through the ring. The former champion's performance in the dunk contest was reviewed by the judges for a long time, as none of the replays were conclusively convincing whether the ball was still in his hands when the final whistle blew. Ultimately, however, the referees decided that they had no reason to cancel the basket, and so the victory went to the Denver team, who tied the series at 2:2 and regained the home advantage.
The guests from the state of Colorado led practically the entire match. The last quarter started with a score of 85:65 in their favor, and after a basket by Jokic, the guests' lead grew to 22 points with only 11 minutes left. The Los Angeles hosts, however, made an incredible turnaround and even took the lead for the first time in the game with 1:11 left on a Bogdan Bogdanovic basket.
The last attack of the game, however, turned out to be in Denver's favor. Jokic received the ball and shot it over Clippers center Ivica Zubac, but instead of hitting the target, it fell into the hands of Gordon, who scored the winning basket. According to official NBA statistics, which closely monitor every game since the 1997/98 season, this is the first time a player has made a winning dunk at the end of regular time in a playoff game.
For the winners from Denver, Nikola Jokic made a "double-double" of 36 points and 21 rebounds. Christian Brown and Michael Porter Jr. each scored 17 points, while the hero Gordon finished with 14 points.
For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points, Norman Powell added 22, and Ivica Zubac had a "double-double" of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
In another game in the West, Golden State won its home game against the Houston Rockets 104:93 and took a 2:1 lead in the series. In the absence of the injured Jimmy Butler, the engine for the "warriors" success was Steph Curry. The best long-range shooter of all time scored 36 points and made 9 assists. Buddy Hield added 17 more points off the bench, with Curry and him each making five three-pointers.
The hosts from San Francisco trailed for most of the game, but won the final quarter 35:22, which also brought them the victory.
For Houston, Fred VanVleet finished with 17 points, but the first nine of them came in the opening three minutes, after which the guard was lost.
The Oklahoma City Thunder team became the first to qualify for the second round of the playoffs. The "Thunderbirds", who won the regular season, defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 117:115 on the road and closed the series with a 4:0 victory.
This game was the most even of the four in the series, with the two teams moving very close to each other for almost the entire time. However, the visitors managed to open their biggest lead of the game of 12 points in the last five minutes, which deprived the "Grizzlies" of any hopes of victory.
Shay Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points for the winners, and Jaylen Williams scored another 23.
For Memphis, Scottie Pippen Jr. scored 30 points, and Desmond Bayne and Santi Aldama each scored 23 points.
In the East, the regular season champion Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-0 lead against the Miami Heat. The "Cavaliers" won 124:87 as guests in the third game and are one step away from the second round.
Six Cleveland basketball players scored at least 13 points, which made the absence of starting point guard Darius Garland completely unnoticed. Jarrett Allen was the most productive for the winners with 22 points, and De'Andre Hunter scored another 21.
For Miami, Bam Adebayo scored 22 points, but with him on the court, the "Hot" were -28.