Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is questionable for Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday after straining his left hamstring late in Game 6, Nuggets interim coach David Adelman told reporters Saturday. ESPN reports Gordon is dealing with a Grade 2 strain and it’s improbable he’ll be able to play on Sunday night. Warriors star Stephen Curry missed four consecutive games against the Timberwolves in the second round with a Grade 1 hamstring strain.
“He just went through the walkthrough,” Adelman said. “Game-time decision, obviously. But he fully was part of it, the game plan on both sides of the ball. If Aaron can play, he will play.”
Gordon “looked normal,” Adelman said. “His motions were good. So, hoping he plays.” In the event that he doesn’t play, though, the Nuggets will be prepared. “We walked through a lot of stuff today with different people having [his] responsibilities,” Adelman said. “But, like I said, the hope is the responsibilities will be Aaron’s.”
It is hard to overstate how important Gordon has been to the Nuggets’ postseason run. After his last-second dunk gave Denver the win in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, Gordon made a game-winning 3 in the opener against the Thunder and a clutch 3 that sent Game 3 into overtime. No one else on Denver’s roster can duplicate what he does on both ends.
The Nuggets are an eight-point road underdog on DraftKings in their second Game 7 of these playoffs.
If Gordon is available Sunday, he will be in the starting lineup, according to Adelman. If he’s not, then the Nuggets will need more from wings Christian Braun and Peyton Watson. Specifically, they will need them to initiate actions when Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray are off the ball.
“Aaron is a special player when he initiates, but I think our guys have had repetition,” Adelman said. “And sometimes, this is what life is. Opportunity comes sometimes when you don’t want it to come. And if he can’t go, we have trust in those guys they get us into actions we need to get into.”
Adelman said it was nice to have more than one day between Games 6 and 7. This gives Gordon a bit of extra time, and it gives the whole team an opportunity to prep for the challenge ahead.
“We need it,” Adelman said. “We’re playing a historical team in a Game 7. A team — 68 wins, the greatest point differential ever, all of the things they’ve accomplished — I guess at this point they’ve won 75 games this year. So we need the rest to play a team this historically good.”
Denver is not a particularly deep team, and it does not have much margin for error in this matchup. If Gordon is unavailable — or is not at his best — then it will be fighting an uphill battle in Game 7.