NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 9, 2023

Aaron Gordon

Denver Nuggets

Game 4: Postgame

Denver Nuggets 108, Miami Heat 95

Q. A lot is often discussed about the Jamal and Nikola tandem, but you and Nikola have a pretty special tandem, as well. Can you talk about kind of the situation when you see he's going to spot the situation, your guy is rotating and the guy they're rotating over to you is going to be small or late. Do you recognize those situations like yeah, he's going to see this, I'm going to be open?

AARON GORDON: Yeah, most definitely. Joker is such an incredible passer, such a floor general out there. He has such a high IQ and such a basketball knowledge for the game. He sees plays steps ahead. So he's reading the defense before he even catches the ball or he's reading the defense before the play is even initiated.

I'm just playing in that dunker, and it's putting that low man in a difficult position. Do you step up? He has such a lethal floater in the middle of the lane, that do you try and take away the floater or do you try and take away the lob. If you take away the lob, you've got shooters in the corner. You've got KP and MPJ. So it's putting the defense in a pickle. Jok just makes the right play every time, and that's how it's been from the start.

Q. On a night when you guys needed somebody else, what does it mean to you that that guy was you?

AARON GORDON: I mean, that's just how this team is built. We have guys that can step up night in and night out. Sometimes it's not going to be your night, and sometimes it is going to be your night. This team does a good job finding the people that are kind of in a rhythm and kind of going.

When it comes down to it, it's just wanting to be great for my teammates. I know when my teammates need me, and just doing it for my brothers.

Q. You hit your first three threes. When you saw that first one go in, how much easier is it to shoot them again? And what were you guys saying to Michael tonight, because clearly he wants to make one and he almost had a couple go down?

AARON GORDON: Just to keep shooting. Try not to force it but to continue to shoot your shot. But Mike is a great player, and he's going to find ways to involve himself in the game, so he did a good job attacking the basket and finding cuts and making plays all over the floor.

I'm not worried about Mike. Mike is going to make shots as long as he keeps shooting. So that's all we're doing is just encouraging him to shoot.

As far as making shots, I'm just taking the ones that they're giving me, taking the open ones.

Q. When you made that left corner three, what was the exchange right there with the Heat bench? Anything in particular that they said or you said?

AARON GORDON: No, not really. It's just gamesmanship. That's part of the game. When you make a three in the corner with the opposition's bench, you can have a little fun with them.

Q. (No microphone).

AARON GORDON: I mean, that's the MO. That's the MO. Just throw it up, I'll go get it, anywhere around it. They're making really good passes, really smart plays and putting the ball on the money, making it easy for me.

Q. When you were talking about Mike yesterday, you said you encouraged him just to get touches on the ball any way he could. Tonight when they were forcing the ball out of Jamal's hands, it seemed like you were bringing the ball up quite a bit. I'm curious if that allowed you to get into the rhythm of the game a bit more.

AARON GORDON: Yeah, I mean, we have counters and counters to our counters. If Mal is being overplayed or working too hard, I can kind of offload some of that ball-handling responsibility and kind of get him some ones, some easy looks within the rhythm of the offense. So he's not having to work so hard, having to bring the ball up 94 feet, be guarded and then doubled.

Just trying to make it easier for him, having him play a little bit off the ball. Yeah, so he's not working so hard.

Q. What is the difference when Joker is running the offense versus when Jamal is running the offense? And what does it mean for you guys during the non-Jokic minutes that you guys stepped up as a team to get you one win of a championship?

AARON GORDON: The difference between -- I mean, we always want to get stops and get out and run. I don't think we try and do anything too differently. We don't post as much. We play more five out, more pick-and-roll when Jokic is out. I think that's probably the majority of it. When Joker is in the game, we're going to go through him in the post.

Even when he's in the game, we still run the chase action, we still run high pick-and-roll action, and we do that when Jok is not in the game. It's more on the defensive end. We're able to [switch] 1 through 5, hopefully get stops and then get out and run. Our defense is our offense.

Q. Throughout the Playoffs, you guys have really defensively been able to lock down a lot of good offenses. Jokic trails only Jimmy Butler in deflections this postseason. How much pride do you guys take in giving Miami a hard time just scoring in the paint? They're shooting around 40 percent in their losses around the paint in this series.

AARON GORDON: We take a lot of pride in it. We know we have a very potent, high-powered offense, and offensive players with Joker, Jamal, Mike, KCP, Brucy B. Going down the list, we have guys that can put the ball in a bucket in a multitude of ways. So we know what's going to win us games is defense, and we've got guys that love to play defense.

Joker doesn't get enough credit for his defense. He's spectacular with his hands and with his coverage, and KCP is the same way. Incredible just ball awareness, understanding where to be and how to strip down. It's awesome out there.

Q. Jamal Murray said, "This is why we brought Aaron here." Mike in the locker room was just praising your sacrifice that you were somebody who was a No. 1 option who came in to play a role. When you came in, what did you envision your role and opportunity being here, and how has it lived up to that?

AARON GORDON: Well, it's pretty good, right? So far, so good.

I felt like I was going to be a defender for this team, a defenseman for this team. I knew they could score. MPJ, one of the best shooters on earth. You've got a two-time MVP in Joker that can do everything on offense. You've got Jamal Murray that can go for 50 on any given night. I knew I was coming in to play defense and make their job easy.

That's what I like to do. I like to play defense. That's my niche. That's how I came into the league, defensive-minded.

As far as the offensive side, it was just get in where I fit in, find cuts, find openings, find transition buckets, try and get easy ones, and then just -- really just get in where I fit in. That was really it. I really liked it, man. It was one of the teams where defenses were just like -- they have to pay attention to so much out there that I was kind of like able to cut unnoticed sometimes.

Q. To follow up on that, how rare is that where a team is so pervasive where everybody is willing to be unselfish? I know you've only played on two teams, but seeing other guys around the league, how rare is it what you guys have and how special is it that everybody seems to have bought into the agenda?

AARON GORDON: It's really rare. It's a blessing. It's awesome to play with these guys. These guys are so unselfish. They're so passionate about basketball, and they understand that you've got to keep energy in the ball, and if you play the right way, everything will work out the way it's supposed to. We can win. Everybody gets love when you win.

Yeah, it was nice just knowing that I could be myself, and that was enough. I didn't have to be any more or any less. Yeah, that was cool. I get to just do what the team asks of me, and sometimes it's score, sometimes it's rebound, sometimes it's defend the best player, sometimes it's make plays. It could be something different on any given night, but every night I get to just be myself.

Q. This seems to be the closest role that you played during your one year at Arizona, which is kind of filling the gaps on both ends of the floor, handle the ball, facilitate. It was a little different from your role in Orlando. But is this something you've been really comfortable with? What's that journey been like just kind of finding different roles at the NBA level?

AARON GORDON: Well, it's been fun. It's been a very -- it's been a learning experience. Now I get to learn with a great coaching staff, with great players around me, through a great organization. I've been able to pick it up pretty quickly, but I've always been a versatile player. I've always hung my hat on versatility and being able to do whatever it takes to win, regardless of what it may be, and it's just nice having a team like this and having a coaching staff like this that believes in you and trusts in your work.

Q. You kind of alluded to it earlier, but the way you all cut around the Jokic and Murray two-man game, do you feel like you have counters to everything and you're comfortable against every coverage that they throw your way?

AARON GORDON: I think we do. Especially when we've got like MPJ cutting, they're expecting him just to be out spotting.

I feel like we have a counter for pretty much everything. When we're clicking, we're gelling offensively and defensively, too.

Q. I saw Nikola run over to you early in the game and said something to you I think in the first quarter. I was curious with how the game was going tonight and his high basketball IQ, how did he support your effort tonight and how early did he recognize that you were going to have this kind of game?

AARON GORDON: Well, he was just telling me to help Jamal out because Jamal was getting blitzed for the pick-and-roll. He just told me just don't leave him stranded, flash when he gets blitzed. They're smart, really smart. We were able to kind of alleviate some of the pressure on Mal a little bit, but for the most part Jamal was making the right play every time. He's so unselfish. He was a point God today. He had 12 assists, no turnovers. He didn't fight it.

He could have. He could have tried and forced it, but he didn't. He played the right way. He took what the game was giving him. Man, he really played a great game because they were trying whatever they could to stop him, trying to do whatever they could to stop him.