MINNEAPOLIS — Aaron Gordon equipped an ominous one-word reply when requested how his physique felt late Monday evening, after the Nuggets misplaced Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
“Older,” the versatile energy ahead mentioned.
“I’ve got some recovery to do.”
By opening tip of the subsequent recreation, Denver’s first damage alarm of the playoffs had sounded. It was at all times going to occur sooner or later. But this was prior to the Nuggets needed.
Gordon was listed as possible with left calf tightness on Thursday morning, earlier than Game 3 at Minnesota. Then he was downgraded to questionable within the afternoon. He had a number of onerous landings within the first two video games of the sequence, grimacing at occasions.
Gordon, 31, spent a lot of the common season going out and in of the lineup with a recurring proper hamstring pressure. The left calf tightness first popped up on March 29, when he wakened feeling discomfort and reported it to the staff. He sat out that night against the Warriors, a choice made out of precaution.
Last season, Gordon missed 31 video games and got here off the bench in 9 others due to a proper calf pressure. He performed by means of that damage throughout the playoffs, scoring two game-winners for Denver. The entire time, he was “taking a chance every time he explodes and jumps,” Adelman mentioned final May. Gordon ended up struggling a left hamstring pressure in Game 6 of Denver’s second-round sequence in opposition to Oklahoma City. He tried to play by means of that as effectively in Game 7, contributing eight factors and 11 rebounds in a season-ending loss.
Sidelined largely by the suitable hamstring this 12 months, he appeared in solely 36 regular-season video games, averaging 16.2 factors, 5.8 rebounds and a pair of.7 assists. He amassed eight factors, seven boards and 4 assists in Denver’s Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves on Monday, logging 37 minutes.
“I’m doing everything that I possibly can,” he mentioned afterward. “Now it’s about just moving slower.”
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