MINNEAPOLIS — After a Game 2 loss that hurt the Nuggets even more than they realized in the moment, Aaron Gordon supplied an ominous one-word answer to a question about how his body felt.
“Older,” the versatile power forward said late Monday night.
“I’ve got some recovery to do.”
By opening tip of the next game, the Nuggets were in a code-red situation. It was always liable to happen at some point during this playoff run. But Game 3 of the first round was far sooner than they anticipated.
Gordon appeared on Denver’s injury report Thursday morning — probable with left calf tightness. Then he was downgraded to questionable in the afternoon. Then he was ruled out, Nuggets coach David Adelman said Thursday night.
As Gordon had indicated himself, he started feeling tight Monday after Game 2.
“We were waiting to see how he was gonna react to it,” Adelman told reporters before Game 3 at Target Center. “You don’t practice hard in between these games, so it was more of a walk-through prep kind of situation, which he was a part of. And today, there wasn’t much improvement. … I can’t tell the future, so I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring.”
Gordon, 30, was in and out of the lineup this season because of a recurring right hamstring strain. His left calf tightness first popped up on March 29, when he woke up feeling discomfort and reported it to the team. He sat out that night against the Warriors, a decision made out of precaution, then returned for the next game.
Adelman didn’t rule out the possibility of Gordon returning for Game 4 on Saturday, but he stressed that he wasn’t sure how Gordon would respond to treatment between games.
“It just seems like this has happened so many times,” the first-year coach said.
In the meantime, 24-year-old wing Spencer Jones was tapped to start Game 3 in Gordon’s place, guarding Minnesota’s Julius Randle. Jones began the season on a two-way contract but was converted to a standard NBA deal at the minimum prorated salary in February, enabling him to appear in playoff games. Undrafted out of Stanford in 2024, he spent most of his rookie season with the Nuggets’ G League affiliate. He started 37 games this year with Gordon often unable to play.
“Those experiences, whether they’re positive or negative, are so valuable. … These are all learning lessons for a young guy that hasn’t played in those moments but has the ability to be in those moments,” Adelman said. “So I trust Spence. It’s been a growing process for him throughout the season. … He’s had a lot of opportunities like this this season where he wakes up one morning and has no idea he’s gonna play, and all of a sudden he starts and plays 35 minutes.”
Last season, Gordon missed 31 games and came off the bench in nine others because of a right calf strain. He played through that injury during the playoffs, scoring two game-winners for Denver. The whole time, he was “taking a chance every time he explodes and jumps,” Adelman said last May. Gordon ended up suffering a left hamstring strain in Game 6 of Denver’s second-round series against Oklahoma City. He tried to play through that as well in Game 7, contributing eight points and 11 rebounds in a season-ending loss.
Sidelined mostly by the right hamstring this year, he appeared in only 36 regular-season games, averaging 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He amassed eight points, seven boards and four assists in Denver’s Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves on Monday, logging 37 minutes.
“I’m doing everything that I possibly can,” he said afterward. “Now it’s about just moving slower.”
