Aaron Gordon talks after beating the Clippers on the road with a game-winner as time expires in Game 4 at Intuit Dome.
A reminder on The Horry Scale: It breaks down a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety night in November?) and celebration. Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, named for the patron saint of last-second answered prayers.
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The Clippers had come back. From 22 points down in the fourth quarter, the Clippers had come back. Machine-like, led by cyborg star Kawhi Leonard’s emotionless 10 points in the final quarter, LA had retaken the lead.
Denver, facing one of the most demoralizing defeats in its franchise’s history, resisted as best it could. The Nuggets even briefly retook the lead, only to watch Ivica Zubac crash the offensive glass to tie the game at 99-99 with eight seconds left.
With all momentum evaporated and facing a voracious home crowd starving for a 3-1 series lead, the prospect of overtime could not have looked less inviting for Denver. A miracle was needed.
Nikola Jokić offered it. Air-balled it.
Aaron Gordon answered it.
Gordon, the former Slam Dunk Contest finalist-turned-do-it-all role player, flew in from the weak side. He caught the ball, threw it through the rim … and released it a fraction of a second before the clock officially hit zeroes.
Video review confirmed the miracle. The shot counted, Denver had won, 101-99, leaving the Clippers and their fans utterly stunned.
GAME SITUATION: Fresh off allowing Zubac’s putback to tie the game, Denver refused to further complicate the ending of what was already a roller-coaster contest. Eight seconds, the Nuggets deemed, was plenty for Jokić to manipulate his all-time skill set into a quality look (for him, at least).
Jokić opted for space instead of speed, starting left before spinning and shooting a fadeaway from 26 feet. No one in the building or watching would have been surprised had the shot gone in.
But it was long. Very long. One player noticed with the clock all but set to expire.
DIFFICULTY: Hopeful running starts are the secret foundation of unexpected putbacks. A generational athlete with size, strength and height, Gordon is built better than most to set himself up for aerial cleanup duty.
Even so, Gordon’s trio of mini-steps and reaching hands all had to be timed perfectly simply to seize the ball in the first place. He read and took advantage of Jokić’s miss in a way none around him could.
That still left the problem of the clock. Synced with the backboard’s video-reviewable red light, it could have rendered Gordon’s otherwise incredible timing as too little, too late.
But Gordon had the instinct and countless reps to release the ball the instant he was sure he could.
AARON GORDON DUNK AT THE BUZZER FOR THE NUGGETS WIN!!! 🚨🚨
ONE OF THE CRAZIER ENDINGS YOU’LL SEE 🤯😱#TissotBuzzerBeater#YourTimeDefinesYourGreatness pic.twitter.com/BVdHdAEP1Q
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2025
CELEBRATION: Gordon was so sure (or hopeful?), in fact, that he immediately sprinted for the locker room, eager to either celebrate a successful video verdict or escape an unfortunate one.
When the officials confirmed the putback counted, the arena’s taut silence snapped. Within a thousands-strong oval of disbelieving boos, the Nuggets celebrated their answered prayer. Players took turns chest-bumping and high-fiving Gordon, who smiled in vindicated relief. The Nuggets made their way quickly to the locker room from there, all too happy to escape with the win and a series that is, incredibly, tied 2-2.
GRADE: Gordon’s game-winner belongs in the postseason pantheon of buzzer-beating lore. The Clippers are familiar with it. Just four years ago, Leonard and LA suffered a similar ending at the hands of Deandre Ayton’s “Valley-Oop” in the Western Conference Finals. Kobe Bryant’s airball assist to Ron Artest’s own buzzer-beating putback in the 2010 conference finals also comes to mind. Those are unforgettable playoff moments, forever crystalized in basketball immortality. Gordon’s putback in L.A. is part of that now. 5 Horrys.
