If you want a sense of how things went for the Nuggets in their first appearance in the NBA Finals on Thursday, look no further than power forward Aaron Gordon’s showing in the first period.
There was the violent spin move to the cup two minutes in, when he briefly lost the ball before recovering it to go up for a layup over All-NBA wing Jimmy Butler. There was the following play, where he sealed the overmatched Gabe Vincent just inside the restricted area, catching a beautiful feed from Nikola Jokić before throwing down a forceful, two-hand jam. A minute and a half later, he had Max Strus pinned just as deep, prompting Jamal Murray to fire a bounce pass from half court all the way into the charge circle, allowing Gordon to go straight up for two more.
There was even more of the same to conclude the period: another bully ball-style layup over Caleb Martin, a strong take over Vincent—who, at 6'2" stands six inches shorter—and a nifty Eurostep on the left side of the basket from the three-point line to the rim on Strus.
