Flash sale: Use promo code gordongame4 for 45% off a yearly membership for the first 50 people to sign up. duncdon.supportingcast.fm
Aaron Gordon
Aaron Gordon's was the first game-winning dunk at the buzzer in playoff history.
Best I can tell, that was first game-winning dunk at the buzzer in any game since Tobias Harris in a 2014 Magic-Thunder game.
That was a rare jubilant moment for Harris and Orlando in a rough season. The Magic finished 23-59, landed the No. 4 pick in the draft and took an athletic forward from Arizona named… Aaron Gordon.
If you're wondering about the Valley Oop – Jae Crowder's game-winning lob to Deandre Ayton in the Suns' victory over the Clippers in Game 2 of the 2021 Western Conference finals – officials put 0.7 seconds back on the clock after the play. It's just so hard to time a dunk as the clock expires.
Aaron Gordon
The NBA's replay center found "clear and conclusive evidence" Aaron Gordon released the ball before time expired, Crew Chief Zach Zarba said, noting the league would post video showing as much.
The video the league posted did not show anything near clear and conclusive. The ball was in Gordon's hands with the light off. In the next frame, it's out of his hands with the light on.
With extra time to look, I remain where Nate was Saturday: Some stills appear to show Gordon's fingertips still on the ball with the light on, though it is FAR from conclusive whether he's actually touching the ball. I have seen no stills with the light off where it seems the ball is out.
Zarba also confirmed whether the shot counts is based on whether Gordon is still touching the ball when time expires, not the location of the ball in the cylinder.
Nuggets-Clippers
Denver went all out for the Game 4 victory:
Nikola Jokic 43 minutes
Christian Braun 43 minutes
Aaron Gordon 43 minutes
Jamal Murray 42 minutes
Michael Porter Jr. 42 minutes
That's first playoff game with five players playing 42 minutes in regulation since1997 Hawks-Pistons Game 3 (Atlanta's Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Tyrone Corbin, Christian Laettner, Dikembe Mutombo).
Information is dicier before the play-by-play era, but the only other time(s) it happened since the NBA-ABA merger in a game that didn't go to overtime came in 1988 Jazz-Lakers (Utah's John Stockton, Bob Hansen, Thurl Bailey, Karl Malone and Mark Eaton).
Lakers-Timberwolves
The Lakers became the first team in at least the play-by-play era to make no substitutions the entire half of a playoff game.
Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura played the entire second half of Los Angeles' Game 3 loss to the Timberwolves yesterday
But there have been a few other close calls in the play-by-play era – none in the last dozen years and none without Tom Thibodeau for more than two decades:
2004 Kings-Mavericks Game 5: Sacramento's Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller played the entire second half. Chris Webber played the entire second half until Anthony Peeler replaced him for the game's final defensive possession with six seconds left.
2001 Raptors-76ers Game 4: Toronto's Chris Childs, Alvin Williams, Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis played the entire second half. Vince Carter did, save the 15 seconds Jerome Williams replaced him for a defensive possession to end the third quarter.
1997 Hawks-Pistons Game 3: Atlanta's Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Tyrone Corbin and Christian Laettner played the entire second half. Eldridge Recasner strangely replaced Dikembe Mutombo of all people for a 19-second defensive possession late in the third quarter.
1997 Hawks-Bulls Game 5: Atlanta's Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Tyrone Corbin and Dikembe Mutombo played the entire second half. Alan Henderson spelled Christian Laettner for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter.
1999 Hawks-Pistons Game 5: Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Grant Long and Dikembe Mutombo played the entire second half. This time, Tyrone Corbin got the brief break, Anthony Johnson replacing him for three minutes around the quarter break.
2013 Bulls-Heat Game 1: Nate Robinson, Marco Belinelli, Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah played the entire second half. Carlos Boozer started, but Taj Gibson played the final 16 minutes.
Thunder-Grizzlies
On paper, the Grizzlies (48-34) were pretty darned good for a No. 8 seed.
Oklahoma City just outscored them by a whopping 78 points.
That is the most resounding first-round sweep ever of a team with such a good record.
By average margin (Thunder +19.5 per game), only one other series rates as highly. In 2001, former Heat player Jamal Mashburn led the Hornets to a 3-0 sweep of Miami by 22.3 points per game.
Otherwise, nobody in the first round has ever swept a team that won 48+ by more than even 16 points per game.
The team on the floor in the playoffs isn't necessarily the same as in the regular season. The Grizzlies beat only one winning team (Detroit) since Feb. 2. They fired their coach with just nine games left. They blew a 29-point lead after Ja Morant got hurt midway through Game 3, and he missed a close Game 4 entirely.
But this is another feather in the cap for the Thunder, whose all-time regular-season dominance has continued into the postseason.
Detroit Pistons
This ties the 76ers, who lost nine straight playoff home games 1968-1971.
Down 3-1 with Game 5 in New York tomorrow, the Pistons probably won't face breaking the record this year.
The Heat aren't far behind with an active streak of seven straight home playoff losses. Down 3-0, Miami hosts the Cavaliers tonight.
Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler is expected to play in Warriors-Rockets Game 4, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
Golden State did well to win Game 3 without Butler. If Butler is healthy enough, he could alleviate a lot of pressure on Stephen Curry and Co. tonight
Damian Lillard
Damian Lillard indeed tore his left Achilles, the Bucks announced.
What a devastating injury for Lillard and the Bucks, who faced a rough long-term outlook around Giannis Antetokounmpo even before Lillard got hurt. Nate and Danny covered the setback well on last night's pod, because it was so obvious what this was.
Game 4s
Watch Nate and Danny discuss Game 4s:
Dick Barnett
Dick Barnett, a starter on the Knicks' 1970 championship team and member of their 1973 title team, died at age 88. He's the only player to average 18 points per game for both the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.
Before joining the NBA's two most prominent franchises, Barnett built HBCU Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State) into an NAIA power. The Syracuse Nationals drafted him No. 5 in 1959.
Barnett helped the Lakers to the 1963 and 1965 Finals then got traded to New York, where he made his lone All-Star team (1968) and has his No. 12 retired.
He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
Stan Love
Former NBA player Stan Love – father of Kevin Love – died at age 76.
The No. 9 pick in 1971, Stan Love played four NBA seasons with the Baltimore Bullets and Los Angeles Lakers. After retiring, he worked with the Beach Boys, a group composed of his brother and cousins.
-Dan Feldman