Aaron Gordon always shows up to work in style, but on New Year’s Day, he combined his sense of fashion with his sense of self-deprecating humor.
Making his return after missing two games due to injuries caused by his Rottweiler on Christmas, Gordon wore a chain featuring a bejeweled bulldog as part of his outfit to Ball Arena on Monday night. Gordon scored 10 points in a Nuggets win over the Hornets, playing with 21 stitches on his right hand and face.
“It was all good,” Gordon told The Denver Post afterward. “Everything’s good.”
He acknowledged that the chain was an intentional touch. It was an accurate representation of how Gordon tackled the unusual situation in his return to practice Sunday. He joked that “when you (mess) around, you find out” while explaining the dog bites to The Denver Post, saying the incident was his own fault. And when teammates asked if it would be insensitive for them to continue barking at Gordon in reaction to his stellar defense — as has been tradition — Gordon gave them his blessing.
“That dude is special, honestly,” Reggie Jackson said. “You’ve seen the chain. You’ve seen how he takes everything in stride. Love the guy. Love his spirit. … Bizarre situation, but just so happy to have him. He’s our heartbeat.”
Jackson added that he and Denver’s other players saw Gordon’s quote about the incident and appreciated the humor. “That was one of those once-in-a-lifetime comments,” Jackson said.
“I was really happy that it wasn’t a prolonged thing,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “… When we didn’t know really how bad it was, it was good just to be able to talk to him and see his spirits being high and everything.”
The team was willing to give Gordon as much time as he needed to recover physically and psychologically, but Gordon knew he was ready to play after going through practice Sunday. When he was introduced as one of Denver’s starters, the crowd at Ball Arena gave him an especially loud ovation.
“It does mean a lot,” Gordon told The Post. “I really appreciate the city. I really appreciate the organization, the fanbase. I just love this team a lot. I love the guys on this team, the coaching staff. So it’s just nice that they return the sentiment.”
Going into the game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone wanted to monitor whether Gordon felt comfortable playing with stitches on his shooting hand. Denver was able to give its starters relative rest in the fourth quarter with a large lead, keeping Gordon to a reasonable 24 minutes (eight fewer than his average).
“He said overall he felt pretty good and it was great to be back out there,” Malone said. “So, glad he’s back, and we’ll have a couple days to get him ready for his next game.”
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