Clippers trade one flashback for a worse one in a split second: Choose your PTSD

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Covering the LA Clippers for a decade has put me in a position to see some of the wildest finishes an NBA game can allow for. It has prepared me to always expect a series to require more games, not fewer. The past few years especially have made me feel like I have seen it all, while simultaneously being open to knowing that, like Kevin Garnett, anything is possible.

The Clippers have won only one playoff series in fewer than six games since arriving from San Diego in 1984. That came in 2006, the franchise’s first-ever postseason series at the arena formerly known as Staples Center. That’s when the Clippers defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinals, the first playoff series the franchise won since it stopped being the Buffalo Braves in the 1970s.

LA has completed 18 postseason series since eliminating the 2006 Nuggets. It has won only six of those series, and all of them required at least six games. After dominating the Nuggets for a 34-point Game 3 win, the Clippers had their first 2-1 series lead under head coach Tyronn Lue. It was easy to look ahead to the Clippers “validating” that win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead.

Now, we all know what happened the last time the Clippers had a 3-1 series lead, right? It was in the bubble in September 2020, against (you guessed it) the Nuggets. The Clippers took a 3-1 lead, and stories were being prepped about the franchise’s first appearance in the conference finals, where the Los Angeles Lakers were awaiting them.

But then Marcus Morris Sr. and Paul Millsap got into a hold-me-back, Nikola Jokić chewed up Montrezl Harrell as Ivica Zubac watched from the bench, Jamal Murray ran circles around the Clippers for a 40-point Game 7, and the Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit for the second series in a row. Sure, different team, different coach, different players. The thought would have crossed minds, at least.

I apologize for even bringing it up. But don’t blame me for the post-traumatic stress disorder that this series may cause. After all, the Clippers traded one potential bad memory for what is now a much more relevant one with the way they lost Game 4.

Zach Zarba’s crew needed film shot by Abraham Zapruder to determine that Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon fell from the sky to rescue Jokić’s wayward game-winning 3-point attempt and score arguably the closest buzzer-beater in NBA postseason history. Gordon only had to jump with teammate Christian Braun and two Clippers who can’t jump with Gordon: James Harden and Norman Powell. Neither Clipper got a body on Gordon, who saved the Nuggets from a 22-point fourth-quarter collapse to secure a 101-99 win that tied the series 2-2, gave the Nuggets momentum heading into Tuesday’s Game 5, gave Denver back the home-court advantage it lost in Game 2, and gave the Nuggets a win going into the most rest either team will get for the rest of the series.

At the end of Q4 of tonight’s #DENatLAC game, Replay Center officials confirmed the ruling of a good basket by the Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon: pic.twitter.com/BxB4j7TFs8

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) April 27, 2025

The last time the Clippers lost a game via an unexpected dunk was the Valley Oop in Phoenix, where Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton gave the Suns a 1-point lead that left 0.7 seconds left on the clock in Game 2 of the 2021 Western Conference Finals.

But that wasn’t a buzzer-beater. The Clippers last lost a playoff game at the buzzer a year earlier, in the 2020 bubble, after Luka Dončić stepped back on Reggie Jackson and hit a walk-off 3-pointer to give the Dallas Mavericks a 2-point win in the quarterfinals to tie that series at 2-2 as well.

There’s one more, for good measure. The last time the Clippers lost a buzzer-beater at home was the final series of the Lob City Clippers: Game 1, 2017, against the Utah Jazz. Another No. 4-No. 5 seed matchup. Chris Paul tied the score with a running bank shot, only for the Jazz to decline a timeout and get Joe Johnson switched onto Jamal Crawford. Johnson got to the paint, and his floater gave the Jazz the win in a series that ended with the Jazz winning in seven.

Who knows how this series will end? I expect all seven games to be necessary at this point. The Nuggets and Clippers finished the regular season with 50 wins each, with both teams beating the other twice. Before Gordon’s final put-back, the Nuggets and Clippers were tied at 99 and had made 39 shots each. Both teams had made exactly 10 of 30 3s. Both teams had made exactly 11 of 16 free throws.

Gordon’s put-back dunk will stand the test of time. But history might forget how Game 4 got to the point of even requiring a game-winning dunk from Gordon in the first place. And just like Gordon got redemption in Game 4 after blowing a clutch-time potential go-ahead dunk in Game 2, the Clippers need to win a best-of-three series to not rue the day of this particular postseason disaster.

With all the momentum of Game 3 behind the Clippers, how did they come out to begin Game 4? With a 22-point first quarter, their lowest-scoring opening quarter of a game since April 2 against the short-handed/tanking New Orleans Pelicans. And the Clippers weren’t hosting Yves Missi in Game 4. They were hosting Jokić, who ended the first quarter on a buzzer-beating 3 that was only made possible because Harden overthrew Zubac on an inbounds pass after forcing a Nuggets shot clock violation on the prior possession.

The teams engaged in a massive hold-me-back in the final seconds of the second quarter that resulted in zero free throws or ejections but six technical fouls: one each on Nuggets Jokić, Gordon and Braun, and one each on Clippers Harden, Powell and Kris Dunn. It was the second altercation of the series but the first that did not involve a player getting picked up by their opponent.

“This is what we want,” said Powell, who took a shot to the face from Gordon in Game 4 after being picked up by Murray in Game 2. “No team willing to give an inch, no team willing to back down. So it’s gonna get chippy, we’re gonna fight. We got guys that like it. We’ve been through a bunch of different types of series in our career. So it’s nothing that we haven’t faced or seen before.”

The Clippers didn’t respond to that moment to begin the second half. Instead, it was Jokić putting his team on his back and making more third-quarter baskets (6-of-11) than the entire Clippers team (5-of-18). The Clippers were facing a Nuggets team that didn’t have its one playable reserve, Russell Westbrook (inactive, foot); instead of playing with urgency, they came out like the worst of their infamous afternoon start times, a factor that Intuit Dome shielded them from during the regular season. Perhaps sensing what was needed, Jokić led the Nuggets from a 2-point halftime lead to a 20-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Him being an MVP player, getting to his spots, making shots,” Kawhi Leonard said of Jokić scoring 16 of his 36 points in the third quarter. “Gotta give him credit. On the defensive end, we had five baskets. It’s the playoffs; it’s how it goes sometimes.”

I’ve seen many Clippers comebacks, including in the playoffs. A big key to comebacks is to watch the minutes of the leading team. The Nuggets couldn’t play a single reserve more than 13 minutes in Game 4. Peyton Watson was the only reserve who played in the fourth quarter, and he was on the floor for only the first 2:45 of the fourth quarter and on the last Clippers possession when Zubac put back Harden’s miss to tie the score at 99.

The Clippers used an offense-first lineup of Harden, Powell, Bogdan Bogdanović (in place of starter Dunn and defenders Derrick Jones Jr. and Nicolas Batum), Leonard and Zubac to outscore the Nuggets 32-9 in 10 minutes. Bogdanović’s only bucket during the run was a go-ahead put-back with 1:11 left to play, the only lead the Clippers had.

But the Clippers couldn’t get a stop when they needed it, and the Nuggets scored on their final three possessions. Jokić drew a Zubac foul and split free throws. After Leonard missed a 3, Jokić put the Nuggets up with 16 seconds to go. And then Gordon beat the buzzer following Zubac’s put-back of a Harden miss.

The Clippers have been in tough moments in series before with these players and under Lue. They won the next game against the Suns after the Valley Oop. In a tied 2-2 series against the top-seeded Jazz, the Clippers won in six without Leonard. The Clippers fell 3-2 against the Dallas Mavericks in 2021 before winning a Game 7 at home. And after Dončić’s 2020 bubble buzzer-beater, the Clippers ended the series with two wins against the Mavericks by 57 points.

“It’s just about who’s gonna be the team that’s gonna limit the easy mistakes or the gift baskets, or do the little things to tighten up the game, when you got two top teams battling and fighting,” Powell said.

In many ways, this series has only just begun. But perhaps Gordon’s game winner will be what shocks the Clippers into realizing their margin for error is just about gone. We can look back again some other time; the players have to press on.

“I’m happy to be out there and play,” Leonard said after dismissing worries about how close the Clippers were to a 3-1 lead. “It’s still a series, best of three. And we’ll see what happens.”

(Photo of James Harden shooting against Jamal Murray, left, and Aaron Gordon: Luke Hales / Getty Images)

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