Aaron Gordon and the Nuggets are doing the impossible

After holding Kevin Durant to 24 points on 10-27 shooting in the Nuggets’ 97-87 Game 2 win over the Suns, Aaron Gordon was asked how he was able to find success while guarding the two-time Finals MVP.

But Gordon didn’t want to take too much credit for shutting down the player who he called postgame one of the “best scorers of all-time.” In classic, selfless Nuggets fashion, Gordon credited his entire team.

“It was really good team defense, honestly,” Gordon said. “He was missing shots as well. I was just trying to take away his strengths, contest everything, just contest as much as you can, try to have him shoot over a hand every time.”

Denver got defensive contributions from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Christian Braun on Durant as well, but Gordon’s defense on Durant in Game 2 will go down as his best individual defensive game in a Nuggets uniform to date. Gordon swallowed Durant Monday night at Ball Arena. He didn’t let him breathe. He held Durant to his lowest total or the playoff so far. Gordon was in his hip pocket all night.

“I love defense,” Gordon said. “I like that aspect of the game. I came into the league as a defender. I feel like there’s no other way to play other than to play two ways.”

Incredible defense from Aaron Gordon on Kevin Durant tonight. pic.twitter.com/F8cXWt75ar

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) May 2, 2023

Game 2 was one of the elite playoff defensive performances of the Nikola Jokic-Michael Malone era. The Suns, who entered Game 2 as the best offense in the playoffs, shot just 40% from the field and 6-31 (19.4%) from 3. Gordon, who’s been the Nuggets’ unsung hero of the playoffs so far, continued to rise to the moment. His defense pretty much took Karl-Anthony Towns out of the Nuggets-Timberwolves first-round series. Gordon already has his fingerprints all over this series as well.

After watching Phoenix in these last two games, I’m not sure the Suns were ready for this type of physicality in Round 2. They certainly don’t look like they were expecting Denver to play defense like this. In Game 1, the Nuggets beat the Suns everywhere — in the half-court, in transition, and on the glass — and held Phoenix to 107 points. In a Game 2 where both offenses struggled, Denver dug in defensively and put the clamps on an offensive attack that no one, absolutely no one, thought the Nuggets had a prayer of stopping entering this series.

The Nuggets have now held the Suns to their two lowest-scoring games of the playoffs.

The theme of both of these Nuggets wins is that Denver has been the more physical team. The Nuggets have pushed the Suns around. They’ve been punking them so far. And slowly but surely, we’re discovering what we thought we might know about the Suns entering this series. They don’t want to play a physical game. They don’t want to bang on the glass. They’re a soft, finesse team and the Nuggets are taking advantage.

In Game 1, Chris Paul, who left Game 2 in the second half with groin tightness, was getting beat by Jamal Murray so badly that he retaliated by shoulder-checking Murray on a fast break in the fourth quarter with the game pretty much out of reach. In Game 2, Devin Booker went chest-to-chest with Bruce Brown after grabbing his jersey and then shoving him during a Nuggets defensive possession. Brown shoved Booker back and then walked away. Gordon and Jamal Murray just stared him down, smiled, and smirked.

The Nuggets aren’t intimidated by the Suns. They’re not scared of this team at all.

The Nuggets currently have the 4th-best playoff defense. Denver has held its opponent under 90 points in now two different playoff games — Game 1 against the Timberwolves and Game 2 against the Suns. The Nuggets are a physical, in-your-face, aggressive defense that now knows it can win in the postseason with its effort on that end of the floor.

Denver has been relying on its defense in the postseason. It’s a style that Calvin Booth envisioned when he tweaked this roster last summer and acquired three players — Caldwell-Pope, Brown, and Braun — that are playing key defensive roles along with Gordon in these playoffs. The Nuggets’ defense on both Durant and Booker has been exceptional in this series.

“Everybody needs to be thankful for them for how aggressive they are and how tough they’re playing,” said Jokic, who carried the Nuggets’ offense in Game 2 with a 39-point, 16-rebound, 5-assist masterpiece. “They’re making every shot a tough shot.”

For as physical as the Nuggets have played in Games 1 and 2, Gordon thinks there’s another level they can get to. He wants the Nuggets to take more charges. He also noted after Game 2 that the Nuggets allowed the Suns to collect 11 offensive rebounds. That’s something Denver has to clean up ahead of Friday’s Game 3 in Phoenix. Gordon wants the Nuggets to crash their offensive glass more too. Denver tallied only five offensive rebounds in Game 2 after finishing with 16 in Game 1.

But the mindset and mission that the Nuggets entered this series with have been on point. The Nuggets are tougher than the Suns. They’re the more physical side. They’ve been more aggressive. They’re grittier and more battle tested. So far, this series has been about the Nuggets, a team that has chemistry, culture, trust, and a core that’s been through the wars together against the Suns, a team full of individual talents that was put together at this season’s trade deadline.

There’s a stark difference between these two teams, and that’s been crystal clear.

“When you have two evenly matched teams,” Malone said. “The more aggressive team is going to win every night.”