Game 4 between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Saturday produced one of the wildest finishes to a game in recent memory. The Nuggets appeared to have the win in the bag when they entered the fourth quarter up 20, but needed an incredible dunk at the buzzer from Aaron Gordon to come away with a 101-99 win.
Nikola Jokic had his best game of the series in Game 4, recording 36 points (14-25 FG), 21 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and a block against the Clippers. Jokic gave the Nuggets a 99-97 lead with 16.0 seconds remaining, but the Clippers still wouldn’t go away. Ivica Zubac tipped in a James Harden miss to tie the game with 8.0 seconds left to set the stage for one of the craziest game-winners ever. Jokic took a heavily contested three on the final possession that was way off, but Gordon caught the ball mid-air and slammed it in at the buzzer.
DENVER TAKES GAME 4 ON AARON GORDON PUTBACK 🤯😱
ANOTHER WILD ENDING IN THIS SERIES 🍿 pic.twitter.com/noYwsBPNiV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 27, 2025
NBA fans went wild as they reacted to this crazy finish.
“Actually f***ing insane. And Aaron Gordon of all people,” a fan couldn’t believe what happened on the final play.
“This Aaron Gordon ball-in-hand, ball in basket at the buzzer is breaking my brain. I have never thought about this scenario until right now,” one fan can’t quite process that final play.
“This series is everything,” one is absolutely loving this series.
“The Clippers got shocked more than Shedeur Sanders falling in the draft,” a fan hilariously compared the shock factor to Shedeur Sanders slipping in the NFL Draft.
“Aaron Gordon with the most unbelievable game-winner I have ever seen,” one fan was in complete awe of this play by Gordon.
Gordon had told Marc J. Spears after Game 3 that he could barely jump, but he sure got up high for this dunk. The 29-year-old finished the game with 14 points (5-9 FG), six rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block. He could well have saved the Nuggets’ season with that dunk, as the series is now tied at 2-2.
What makes this dunk even more of a gut punch for the Clippers is that Gordon came very close to being ejected at the end of the second quarter. A scuffle broke out in which he appeared to hit Norman Powell, but no one involved ended up being tossed.
The Clippers can at least take solace from the fact that they were able to nearly send this game to overtime. This contest had no business being that close, but they outscored the Nuggets 34-16 in the fourth quarter.
Kawhi Leonard scored 10 points in the fourth to give the Clippers a chance, and he ended the night with 24 points (10-22 FG), nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He was one of four players for the hosts to score in double digits, but only one other player managed to score over five points (Bogdan Bogdanovic with seven). The Clippers are going to need a little bit more production in the games to come.
Game 5 will be held at the Ball Arena on Tuesday at 10 PM ET. Whoever emerges victorious there will be regarded as the favorite to win what has easily been the best first-round series of these playoffs.
