Aaron Gordon

2022 - 12 - 26

Post cover — Image courtesy of "MARCA.com"

Aaron Gordon comes up with the dunk of the year on Christmas Day ... (MARCA.com)

Christmas Day basketball has become a tradition in North America, with the NBA offering a full holiday program of matches, and these games did not ...

Ruling out this dunk would have been a crime against the sport of basketball. It was an explosion that sent Denver's Pepsi Center into a frenzy as the game drew to a close. [Michael Jordan, worst NBA owner?

Aaron Gordon dunk: Watch Nuggets forward unleash season's best ... (CBSSports.com)

Here's a less fun fact: he's never actually won the Slam Dunk Contest despite racking up the most 50-point dunks in its history (eight). Here's the most fun ...

[NBA](/nba/) today who can do something like this late in a key game with another human being standing between him and the rim. Had Phoenix hung on to win the game, he would've been one of the heroes of the night. [Landry Shamet](/nba/players/2203585/landry-shamet/) misses a shot that would've given Phoenix the lead. Anyone can pull off a cool dunk when they're alone on the floor. Here's the most fun fact of the night: on Sunday, Gordon unleashed a dunk more fearsome than anything ever scored by the judges. [Aaron Gordon](/nba/players/2135532/aaron-gordon/) wears the number 50 because of the many, many times he's achieved that score in the Slam Dunk Contest.

Aaron Gordon Dunk Highlights Christmas Day Games (Sports Illustrated)

Eight years after Wade posterized Cleveland Cavaliers center Kevin Love on a put-back dunk, Gordon did the same to the Phoenix Suns' Landry Shamet. Some are ...

[CLICK HERE](https://www.si.com/nba/heat/miami-news/gambling-website-says-miami-heat-have-the-second-best-odds-of-landing-trae-young) [CLICK HERE](https://www.si.com/nba/heat/miami-news/takeaways-from-the-miami-heats-loss-to-indiana-pacers) [CLICK HERE](https://www.foco.com/collections/miami-heat) [CLICK HERE](https://www.si.com/nba/heat/miami-news/how-miami-heats-twitter-reacted-to-the-loss-against-the-indiana-pacers-friday-night) Wade had a similar impact after he slammed home a tip-dunk over Love in their 2014 games against the Cavs. Late in overtime, Gordon drove the length of the court before throwing down a one-handed slam over Shamet.

Watch Aaron Gordon throw down Dunk of the Year over Shamet (NBC Sports)

The safe play — with the ball and up one with :28.2 seconds left in the game — is to slow up, dribble it out, and make the other team foul you while eating ...

[Ja Morant](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/basketball/nba/player/51038/ja-morant) (who did have 36 in this game). [Jordan Poole](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/basketball/nba/player/51434/jordan-poole) scored 32 and the Warriors created a little space at the end of the first half and never looked back, talking a lot of trash (that went both ways) on their way to a 123-109 win. The NBA saved the best for last — the Nuggets and Suns put on the day’s most entertaining game. Without Booker, Shamet stepped up with 31 and Phoenix showed real grit, but the Nuggets came away with the 128-125 win and are now in sole possession of first place in the West. [Tyrese Maxey](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/basketball/nba/player/58302/tyrese-maxey), Philadelphia went into Madison Square Garden and beat the red-hot Knicks in the early game on Christmas, 119-112. Don’t forget about the Pelicans. The West is wide open. It also would help if [Jaren Jackson Jr.](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/basketball/nba/player/30575/jaren-jackson-jr) could stay out of foul trouble and on the court. In recent weeks, the Grizzlies had looked like the best team in the West. The Warriors have looked like contenders only in flashes and just came off a 1-5 road (they had lost 7-of-9 overall), and Golden State was Also, both of these teams will evolve and look different come May — when they likely would meet in a playoff series — than they do on Christmas. The Celtics’ star scored 20 of his 41 points in a third quarter that changed the game.

Nuggets' Aaron Gordon drops jokes after Dunk of the Year vs. Suns (ClutchPoints)

Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon submitted a late but strong entry for Dunk of the Year 2022 Sunday night when he put Landry Shamet on a poster.

Gordon’s dunk deserved more than a 50 if you ask Nuggets fans. [Sunday](https://clutchpoints.com/nba-christmas-odds-suns-vs-nuggets-prediction-odds-and-pick-12-25-2022) night when he put Landry Shamet on a poster. Aaron Gordon submitted a late but strong entry for Dunk of the Year 2022

Aaron Gordon had perhaps the best dunk of the season during the ... (USA TODAY)

Denver forward, who ranks second in NBA in dunks this season, goes coast-to-coast in overtime for memorable slam vs. Phoenix.

That was the [second-highest total](https://stathead.com/tiny/BnyCv) of his career and tied for the most on record in an NBA game played on Christmas. Gordon, meanwhile, is enjoying what is arguably the best campaign of his professional career thus far. Gordon sprinted the ball up the court in transition before he eventually took off from an impossibly far distance.

Nuggets' Nikola Jokic on Aaron Gordon: “He's the soul of the team.” (The Denver Post)

Aaron Gordon called it the best in-game dunk he'd ever had.

At every level of the game, Gordon was there. There was nothing, Jokic said, that Gordon couldn’t do on the floor. Everything Gordon needed to say, about his dunk, his dominance, and Denver’s burgeoning championship potential, had already been said. In the wake of last year’s first-round playoff ouster to Golden State, Gordon made a public commitment to re-focus and raise his basketball IQ. Now, not only does he have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown to handle smaller guards, he’s got a plethora of offensive options who can alleviate his playmaking burden. On a night where Jokic authored another 40-point triple-double, and Murray morphed into a flamethrower in the fourth quarter, Gordon’s aerial acrobatics remained the indelible moment. Even when he’s ducking, he’s reading where the pass can come from.” What he left in his wake was Shamet, who dropped to the floor, and a shell-shocked Suns team that couldn’t compete with Gordon’s raw athleticism. In some photos captured of the moment, he almost was. Up 124-123 with 24 seconds left, Gordon corralled his 12th rebound of the night and picked up steam on the opposite side of the floor. He said he felt how Shamet’s body had impeded him and knew a review would yield an and-1. When the whistle blew, alleging a charge, Gordon knew it wouldn’t hold.