Aaron Gordon answered the call for the Nuggets in Oklahoma City, just as he’s always done

OKLAHOMA CITY Aaron Gordon will constantly answer a teammate s phone call So when Christian Braun woke him up with a FaceTime notification last year he rolled out of bed and accepted Gordon was in China Braun was in Missouri seeing his mom s sister one last time She had been a quadriplegic for years and had only a limited hours to live Braun yearned to see her smile She long had a fondness for one of the Nuggets Call it a crush So Braun tried to surprise his aunt not knowing Gordon was on the other side of the world He was literally sleeping in China he communicated The Denver Post He didn t have to answer the phone But he picked up in the middle of the night He turned on his lights got out of bed indicated her his new tattoo Gordon stayed on the phone with Braun s family for about minutes chatting with his biggest admirer I love you she explained to Braun setting herself up for a punchline that made the whole room laugh but Aaron s my favorite athlete It was a arduous day Braun s aunt died about four hours later But for a limited minutes she beamed She was kind of coming in and out of consciousness a little bit Braun remembered And I proved her Aaron so she could see and her eyes lit up man Gordon s selflessness is the stuff of legend in Denver He famously trimmed and tailored his event to fit a reduced role after being traded in from Orlando where he was the first option the ball-in-hand star He embraced dirty work and a cerebral reexamination of basketball tutored by Nikola Jokic His gratitude for that enlightenment was so immense that he once bought Jokic a massive customized saddle decorated with the MVP s name and the Serbian flag to commemorate his love of horse-racing And a car Gordon also bought Jokic a car He is a Denver Nugget man interim coach David Adelman announced He is the soul of our squad On a group that features an inner-circle Hall of Famer at center and a generational playoff riser at point guard Gordon s plenty of talents have often been tertiary Teammates coaches and front-office staff proudly point out that s not a relegation but a willing sacrifice The power forward has learned to appreciate his freedom from the limelight So as the Nuggets see it nobody is more deserving of it They ll say it s an act of karma that Gordon is now responsible for two playoff game-winning buckets in as plenty of weeks even though the ball doesn t go through him with games on the line He is Denver s hero who doesn t reach for the cape It just keeps finding him It uncovered him in Los Angeles where Jokic s airball floated left of the rim before time expired in Championship of the first round And it ascertained him again at the end of an instant classic Championship in Oklahoma City where Russell Westbrook couldn t see any daylight in the paint during a last-gasp transition attack Gordon spotted up on the left wing collected Westbrook s pass and knocked down a -pointer with seconds remaining Trailing by with to go the Nuggets stunned the -win Thunder on its home court with a - win two days after surviving a fierce seven-game series with the Clippers Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets celebrates hitting a game-winning jumper over Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets - win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City Oklahoma on Monday May The Nuggets took a - Western Conference semifinal lead with their win Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post As Gordon overheard one teammate sing his praises in the locker room afterward he mentioned to himself Aw shucks I think everybody by now knows AG is a salt-of-the-earth person ' Peyton Watson stated The Post I never understand why he s never up for Teammate of the Year in the NBA I never understand it He s one of the best teammates I ve ever had at any level of basketball The examples are endless When Gordon became eligible for a contract extension last offseason he had a participant option worth million looming on his ongoing contract He was due for a raise and incentivized to decline the option Instead he compromised by signing a deal that included an opt-in on his - salary league sources noted providing the hamstrung Nuggets with crucial luxury tax relief for next season While Gordon charmed and comforted Braun s family he has also been mourning his own loss His older brother Drew died in a car crash last May Gordon started taking care of Drew s two sons who accompanied him to the media room for his postgame interview Monday Stick with it he explained his nephews at the podium Be a demonstration of resiliency Gordon once had a basketball court built into his Denver warehouse home Grief-stricken last offseason he poured hours into improving his -point shot He was in his career and last season He yearned to get rid of the hitch in his form He emerged from the warehouse with a career-best season The shot that completed Denver s miracle in Oklahoma wouldn t have been a reliable look for high-leverage moments a year ago I ve worked on my jumper a lot a lot throughout the years he declared You guys have seen the maturation of it So it s nice to have it all culminate in a game-winner He is so fluid right now with his shot Adelman commented It s very different Over the years it s slowly gotten better There s less of a hitch There s almost no hitch now It s just a very fluid up-and-down shot His knees release when his elbow does All the things they tell you when you re years old at camp it looks that way right now As Adelman noted Gordon s impact on the margins Monday won t be as canonized as his game-winning shot He grabbed rebounds He threw himself on the floor to obtain a loose ball in the last two minutes securing a stop for the rallying Nuggets He held Jalen Williams an All-Star this season to a -for- shooting night that prevented the Thunder from pulling away This was hours after defending Kawhi Leonard exceptionally in a Contest In essence Adelman meant the traces left on a event by Gordon that aren t directly attributed to him in a box tally The dirty work that he embraced when Denver acquired him from Orlando Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets grabs a loose ball seconds before Jamal Murray calls a timeout to prevent a jump-ball situation from Isaiah Hartenstein and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets - win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City Oklahoma on Monday May The Nuggets took a - Western Conference semifinal lead with their win Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Related Articles Thunder s Mark Daigneault sticks by failed late-game strategy vs Nuggets I didn t think that s why we lost PHOTOS Denver Nuggets steal Battle from Oklahoma City Thunder - in NBA Playoffs round two Nuggets-Thunder Battle -pointers Nikola Jokic wins Round of MVP duel with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Nuggets rally for stunning Challenge win over Thunder on Aaron Gordon s Aaron Gordon risking his calf every time he explodes and jumps David Adelman says It seemed like they were unfailingly fighting for Who s the man Who s gonna be the man in Orlando Everybody yearned the ball Nuggets assistant coach Popeye Jones communicated The Post Everybody demanded to be the man He understands A lot of people don t like to play the role that he plays in terms of Oh I m just kind of getting out of the way and letting Joker and Jamal Murray do their thing ' Jones made a point of getting his hands on the event ball after Denver s unforgettable series-opening win He dangled it in front of Gordon I stated him I m not gonna give you this ball right now because it s just - Jones revealed But I ll make sure it gets back to Denver That too was a sacrifice Gordon was willing to make Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis