MINNEAPOLIS — Aaron Gordon supplied an ominous one-word answer when asked how his body felt late Monday night, after the Nuggets lost Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
“Older,” the versatile power forward said.
“I’ve got some recovery to do.”
By opening tip of the next game, Denver’s first injury alarm of the playoffs had sounded. It was always going to happen at some point. But this was sooner than the Nuggets wanted.
Gordon was listed as probable with left calf tightness on Thursday morning, before Game 3 at Minnesota. Then he was downgraded to questionable in the afternoon. He had multiple hard landings in the first two games of the series, grimacing at times.
Gordon, 31, spent most of the regular season going in and out of the lineup with a recurring right hamstring strain. The left calf tightness first popped up on March 29, when he woke up feeling discomfort and reported it to the team. He sat out that night against the Warriors, a decision made out of precaution.
Last season, Gordon missed 31 games and came off the bench in nine others because of a right calf strain. He played through that injury during the playoffs, scoring two game-winners for Denver. The whole time, he was “taking a chance every time he explodes and jumps,” Adelman said last May. Gordon ended up suffering a left hamstring strain in Game 6 of Denver’s second-round series against Oklahoma City. He tried to play through that as well in Game 7, contributing eight points and 11 rebounds in a season-ending loss.
Sidelined mostly by the right hamstring this year, he appeared in only 36 regular-season games, averaging 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He amassed eight points, seven boards and four assists in Denver’s Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves on Monday, logging 37 minutes.
“I’m doing everything that I possibly can,” he said afterward. “Now it’s about just moving slower.”
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