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Denver Nuggets Weekly Recap: Who’s Climbing And Who’s Stuck On The Ground

By Alex Murray

Apr 4, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone with center Nikola Jokic (15) and forward Michael Porter Jr. (1) and forward Aaron Gordon (50) and forward Will Barton (5) and guard PJ Dozier (35) in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone with center Nikola Jokic (15) and forward Michael Porter Jr. (1) and forward Aaron Gordon (50) and forward Will Barton (5) and guard PJ Dozier (35) in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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Denver Gordon – (6,000 – Movin’ On Up Mount Evans)

Mar 28, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (50) warms up before the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (50) warms up before the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

Aaron Gordon with the Denver Nuggets, or, Denver Gordon, has been a catalyst for success ever since touching down in the Rockies on the March 27th trade deadline. That brutal final 15 minutes on Sunday represented the first stretch in the eight games since Gordon arrived that Denver didn’t look pretty much unstoppable.

It doesn’t get much better than seven straight starts and seven straight wins to begin your career with a team, which is what happened for Gordon. Draining threes, rim-rocking runs, big ol’ swats on defense—Gordon has been doing it all for the Nuggets since his arrival.

The team has fully embraced him as well, with players showing support and excitement when he first arrived and Malone and his coaching staff sharing how they felt by inserting him into the starting lineup in his very first game with the team.

Gordon is clearly loving life in Denver these days playing just as well if not better than in Orlando while having to do much less thanks to the rest of Denver’s Fantastic Four. He has also shown off his improved playmaking ability, which has lifted Jokic’s burden somewhat, not to mention the Joker probably loves dishing it around with teammates as he can with Gordon.

You may be thinking, ‘Wow, Alex, that all seems pretty positive for Denver Gordon, so why is he less than halfway up Mount Evans this week?’ Good question, hypothetical reader, here’s the answer: his play has slowed over the past couple of nights.

He started off averaging 12.5 points, 4.2 boards, 2.7 dimes, and 1.2 steals on 61 percent shooting from the field through his first six games as Denver Gordon. In the past two games—one of which the Nuggets won on the final play, the other… well, we talked about that already—Gordon has averaged just 9.0 points on 44 percent shooting from the field and 29 percent shooting from downtown.

He has also shot just two free throws total over the past two games, so if he wants to keep scaling Mount Evans and reach the heights of his teammates, we’d like to see him be more aggressive and make more of those cuts to the cup that have made him a legend of the slam dunk.

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