Aaron Gordon didn’t want game ball after Nuggets lost season opener despite his 50-piece

SAN FRANCISCO Aaron Gordon gets hyphy when he s near his hometown His string of exceptional scoring performances at Golden State might seem to defy explanation but it turns out there is one Home is where the heart is or in Gordon s scenario where the ear is Man the DJ was playing slaps you know what I mean the Nuggets forward noted after Denver s season-opening overtime loss on Thursday So I m vibing the whole championship He s playing the straight Bay that I grew up with Just like hyphy music you know what I mean He s talking about Oakland-style hip-hop the frenetic subgenre that emerged in the s and spread across the Bay Area as he was growing up in San Jose in the early aughts Give Gordon the soundtrack of his youth and he ll give you a memorable battle Fifteen fourth-quarter points to pilot an epic comeback and set up the shot of Nikola Jokic s life A -point throwback to carry a short-handed group without Jokic Jamal Murray or darn near anyone else A bittersweet -piece I was just up there getting hyphy he noted Fifty was not enough on Thursday night and that will haunt the Nuggets even if it was only the first contest of the season It will haunt them in annoyingly sentimental and emotional approaches more than it will in the standings at least for now Warriors Nuggets in an overtime opener for the ages I feel awful for Aaron coach David Adelman commented unprompted Aaron had a night that I ll never forget I know that he won t Gordon shone brightest but Steph Curry got the last laugh in a city that he wields so effortlessly in the palm of his hand even at years old His effect on the Bay Area is as timeless as hyphy s spell on Gordon When he stepped to the foul line late in regulation for three free throws he first paused took notice of a momentary lull and calmly implored Chase Center to get noisier They couldn t jump to their feet fast enough He doesn t need a lot Nikola Jokic declared He just requirements to see one ball go in That was the second-most striking crowd reaction of the night outdone only by the authentic gratification when Gordon missed his first -pointer It happened late in the third quarter on Gordon s ninth try He seemed invincible up to that point and afterward too The final stat line points and eight rebounds on -of- shooting including of outside the arc Whoever scores threes in a championship Jokic revealed it s easy to play with that person Even after he cashed in a scant the Warriors relentlessly made head-scratching defensive decisions going under a ball screen not picking Gordon up in transition as he brought the ball up selling out to take away the paint from him off-ball instead of the -point line as Draymond Green did with seconds left in regulation Gordon s th triple should have been the game-winner But He hit a super-tough shot to send it to OT Gordon noted That s Steph being Steph From feet deep Curry pulled up and stole Gordon s moment The Nuggets were helpless to stop it They presented him bodies and ran him off the -point line effectively early in the challenge but steadily he turned Christian Braun s sneakers into ice-skates predicted the beats and rhythms of Jokic s double-teams and revealed the angles that transferred control back to him He scored of his points after halftime Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors does his night night celebration after Jimmy Butler III made a three-point basket against the Denver Nuggets in overtime at Chase Center on Oct in San Francisco California Photo by Ezra Shaw Getty Images The Nuggets didn t defend well enough They relinquished a -point lead A limited times we didn t send him in the direction of the defense Adelman explained If he gets the other way there s no one on the other side of that pick The shot he made to tie it s a shot that only he can make But obviously you have to be up the floor more Denver still had a chance to win on the last possession of regulation The Warriors had offense-based personnel on the floor from the previous sequence But Adelman was OK using a timeout and allowing them to substitute if it meant getting organized on the pick-and-roll setup and making sure his players didn t rush to shoot before the buzzer They produced a quality shot out of that timeout but Jokic missed from floater range This was a night when plenty of components weren t good enough around Gordon Braun struggled at both ends Cam Johnson was cold from -point range and had a minus- in his Nuggets debut The defense was often tangled or disorganized getting back in transition But Jokic s individual inefficiency stood out In one of the lesser triple-doubles of his career he missed of his last field goal attempts He was for in the last two minutes of overtime He was for from three It was a sobering inversion of Gordon s hyphy night Required if he could ve done more to establish an interior presence in lieu of those s though Jokic played a bit of defense Related Articles David Adelman after Chauncey Billups Terry Rozier arrests connected to sports gambling Just hoping for the best for everybody Renck Chauncey Billups arrest for gambling leaves those who knew him heartbroken sad Feds allege Chauncey Billups was face card in high-stakes Mafia-backed poker scam Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups charged in Mafia-backed poker scheme David Adelman s debut season as Nuggets head coach tips off against Warriors similarly atypical play style I think I need to mix it up but I m happy with the -point looks he commented I think I was open The bulk of them seemed like they were going in but they didn t So I mean I m happy with the shots Just not the results a beloved teammate s career night wasted a homecoming squandered It sucks Gordon admitted They re asking if I desired the meeting ball And no I don t want the meeting ball to take an L home with me No thank you So it sucks But it s one match It s our first tournament That s a good band It s a really good organization It s hard to win on the road You ve gotta execute offensively and defensively down the stretch So we re gonna reconvene watch the film go back home and try to play better in our home opener