Latest / Bleacher Report / Nikola Jokić & Aaron Gordon Talk Nuggets Game 1 Win vs. Thunder _ 2025 NBA Playoffs

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Nikola Jokić & Aaron Gordon Talk Nuggets Game 1 Win vs. Thunder _ 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Any questions.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Alright, Aaron, given how much you've improved on your three
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: point shooting over a calendar, your how how did how
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: a order was it to be? Do you get that shot?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Just for this team? How you guys are stayed connected.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: You wouldn't let this when you get away, when it
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: was all set up to say, hey, maybe we win
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: game two because we're all tired for the gap stuff.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Just your take me through your three and what it
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: means and and the way this team refused to let.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: This gave it were Uh, well, I've uh worked on
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: my jum brough a lot, a lot, you know, throughout
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: the years, you guys have seen a maturation of it.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: So it's nice to have it all culminating on a
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: game winner. But it really comes down to my teammates
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: like Russ making a great play and finding me in
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: in uh in transition and in rhythm, you know, on time,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: on target. So it helps when you have a Hall
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: of Fame passer p sense for you. But you know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: we just didn't want to miss the moment. We didn't
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: want to miss the opportunity. We knew if we waited,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: it may be too late. So I'm glad we showed
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: our you know, medal, but our grit. But we're not satisfied.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: How loud did you guys cheer when you made that shot?
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: See, you cheered like a lot.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: Aaron coach Otleman called you the soul of this team.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: What does that mean to you?
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: I think we have a really soulful group, you know.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of guys out there just our leaders.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: You know, we have a lot of leaders, and we
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: guys that have really high character guys and guys that
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: want to win, and guys that have to play for
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: the right reason. So when you bring everybody together that
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: has as that same mindset and has that same soulful
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: approach to the game, you get something special.
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: Aaron coach Ottleman keeps mentioning that he thinks you guys
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: are an honest locker room, but also that you've become
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: one over the course of the year.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Do you agree with that an honest locker room.
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: Honest with each other, having tough conversations with each other,
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: And he said it allows him to just kind of
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: focus on coaching and schematics.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, we hold each other accountable and we have
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: high Q guys on this team and high character guys
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: on this team, So when we're speaking to each other,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: it comes from a place of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and compassion.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: And yeah, it just allows your DA to just focus
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: on the excellent os and.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And some of the pep.
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: You guys have gotten better at in the last month.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I mean we've been able to communicate. But
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: you know, we don't got no punks on this team.
• 3:00
  Speaker 7: When the Thunder run on the run and in the
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: past against other teams, that's normally when they try to
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: put teams away. But y'all were able to withstand it.
• 3:06
  Speaker 7: What were you telling yourselves to be able to keep
• 3:08
  Speaker 7: yourselves in the game and uh and make that uh
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: second half charge.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: I mean we've been through a lot uh this group,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: and we've come from behind to win uh in plenty
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: of games.
• 3:18
  Speaker 8: Uh.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: It's not necessarily what we try and do and more
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: what we wanna do, but we know that we've been
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: in that position before and we can do it.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So we saw the time and we saw the score,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: and we know.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: What we were trying to accomplish, and uh, uh we got
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: it done tonight.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: R Russ kind of touched on that, so did he
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: be about you know this team being there before Russ.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: I want you know, you guys won in the championship
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: obviously before you got here, but these moments not being
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: too big. Can you sense that that you know that's
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: an advantage you have against you know, a younger team
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: in this case.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I mean.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: We know what it takes. Uh, we know what it
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: takes uh to get there, to get to their mountain top,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: to get over over the hump. And on the contrary,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: we know if we're not giving what it takes. You know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: if we're not if we're not doing what we need
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: to be, if we're not holding ourselves at the standard
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: of UH championship level.
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: Christian was saying, like you oh dum sorry.
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: Christian was saying, how you you.
• 4:21
  Speaker 9: Pretty much live in the gym and you have one right, Yeah,
• 4:25
  Speaker 9: how often do you shoot where at your gym versus
• 4:27
  Speaker 9: like the Nuggets gym and practice your stuff.
• 4:34
  Speaker 8: Pretty much every day along those lines, After all the
• 4:39
  Speaker 8: work you've done at home and then the gym wherever,
• 4:43
  Speaker 8: when that shot leaves your hand, do you know what's in?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And how would that compare it to say, a year
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: ago when you try to take that shot?
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: MM, when I shouted Uh, did I know it was
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: in I I.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Knew it wasn't a miss. That's good.
• 5:05
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Aaron, you guys kind of had your backs against
• 5:12
  Speaker 10: the wall for the last three and a half weeks.
• 5:14
  Speaker 10: You know, you guys were fighting to stay out of
• 5:16
  Speaker 10: the playing. Obviously, we're down two to one against the Clippers.
• 5:20
  Speaker 10: I had to win win a game four on the road.
• 5:24
  Speaker 10: You know what, what's it been like? You know, you
• 5:27
  Speaker 10: guys having to kind of fight back and show resilience,
• 5:30
  Speaker 10: you know, just so many times, you know, over the
• 5:33
  Speaker 10: over the last month. And is it kind of a
• 5:35
  Speaker 10: thing where you guys are kind of used to it
• 5:37
  Speaker 10: and you've been in the spot and you know you
• 5:39
  Speaker 10: kind of know how to react to it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a lot of poison in this group.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: You know, we got a lot of just you know, grit,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: like I'm saying, but you know, it's not the position
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: that we want to put ourselves in with our with
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: our backs against the wall.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: But I'm knowing that.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I know how this group responds to our fate, that
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: we can respond when we are in those situations.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: But you know that's not where we want to be.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Aaron.
• 6:06
  Speaker 11: You've got the young ones with you So I'll take
• 6:07
  Speaker 11: away from for basketball, just for a moment when they're
• 6:09
  Speaker 11: in a position where it may not look like they
• 6:11
  Speaker 11: should keep trying, but you want them to. What advice
• 6:13
  Speaker 11: will you give them?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: These guys is greater later, you know, so.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Stick with it, you know, be a demonstration of resiliency.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Where job you have to say? Patient, that's it's you guys.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Ready you want to say go Nuggets? Yeah, that's what
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I say. I want to talk about Joker.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: You've called Aaron one of your five favorite teammates in
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: your career before you said the best fire your best.
• 6:52
  Speaker 9: Was like making top five, top five career life whatever
• 6:57
  Speaker 9: his name.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: Sure, and now since that comment, you've him hit two
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: game winners in the playoffs. Is it awesome seeing seeing
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: that moment for what others have called the soul of
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: the team.
• 7:06
  Speaker 9: Yes, I mean he had big fitrows before that, so
• 7:09
  Speaker 9: he made both of them. Uh. He had the big
• 7:13
  Speaker 9: box out on the carus I think was it Caruso. Uh,
• 7:18
  Speaker 9: And he made a really big, really big shot for us,
• 7:23
  Speaker 9: you know, and he deserves it. He's he's, like I said,
• 7:26
  Speaker 9: he's a soul of this team. He's a glue guy.
• 7:28
  Speaker 9: He probably doesn't give them much respect that he deserves,
• 7:32
  Speaker 9: but I think he doesn't need like attention, so he
• 7:35
  Speaker 9: knows what he's doing. So I'm happy for him.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Nicole, CB and Russ and I asked ag about you
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: guys haven't been here before, how much his experience playing,
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: being able to stick with it through the game and
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: certainly in those last two minutes as kind of winding down.
• 7:51
  Speaker 9: I mean, I think most of the nights we are,
• 7:56
  Speaker 9: like I said, finding the way weeah. Of course we
• 7:59
  Speaker 9: have a game, games and Knights that we are not
• 8:01
  Speaker 9: doing that and we are don't look like that, but
• 8:03
  Speaker 9: I think generally looking we know how to at least
• 8:10
  Speaker 9: we get a shot that we want whatever. Even a
• 8:13
  Speaker 9: guess team, they're playing really really good difference events. So
• 8:20
  Speaker 9: we've been yes, like the guys that we've been through
• 8:22
  Speaker 9: this and we've been in this situation.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: So going back to Aaron just for a second, Nicole,
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: given everything that he's been through in the past year,
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: what can you say about him as just a human being.
• 8:34
  Speaker 9: I mean, he's great, you know he he he told
• 8:37
  Speaker 9: me he's gonna visit me and so and he show up.
• 8:39
  Speaker 9: I was like, whoa, there he goes, Uh, he's he's
• 8:43
  Speaker 9: a good friend. Of course, have we shared a lot
• 8:46
  Speaker 9: of stories, we shared a lot of emotions together. So
• 8:49
  Speaker 9: he's a he's a great person, great guy.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: And then your game tonight, how did you learn as
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: the game evolved, what Oklahoma City was doing defensively?
• 8:59
  Speaker 9: I mean, there they're coming, you know, I think I
• 9:01
  Speaker 9: had like four or five block shots. So they blocked
• 9:05
  Speaker 9: my shots four or five times. They stalls, they steal
• 9:07
  Speaker 9: all the balls. They were aggressive, you know that that's
• 9:10
  Speaker 9: what they do. They're playing passing lines. They are I
• 9:13
  Speaker 9: mean maybe I was not cautious, maybe I was just
• 9:16
  Speaker 9: playing loose, but I just needed to be aggressive, and
• 9:22
  Speaker 9: I think I did it the best of my capabilities.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Like, I mean, there was you were in foul trouble
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: sort of. There was flavor fels and you're battling and
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: scratch it. But you never lost your composure. You didn't
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: and you and the Steve never let this game get
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: away from you. How were you able to stay calm
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: in the moments it looked like a few times, you know,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the crowd's going crazy, it's spinning out of control. How
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: are you able to keep getting away from it?
• 9:48
  Speaker 9: It's a game of runs. You know, we know that
• 9:50
  Speaker 9: they're going to make runs special in this arena, especially
• 9:53
  Speaker 9: how they played it fast in transition. They're gonna make
• 9:55
  Speaker 9: like four or six or eight of runs, you know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 9: and we need just don't lose it, like you said long,
• 10:00
  Speaker 9: don't lose even fall so many fault whatever. Just don't
• 10:05
  Speaker 9: lose the composure and try to be organized.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 10:08
  Speaker 9: On the on the Office.
• 10:10
  Speaker 12: Event, joker kind of building off that they were chanting
• 10:15
  Speaker 12: free throw merchant at you. I'm curious what you thought
• 10:17
  Speaker 12: of that. And how much do you rely on your
• 10:19
  Speaker 12: experiences in Serbia. I've heard you say crowds here don't
• 10:23
  Speaker 12: bother you.
• 10:24
  Speaker 9: To be honest, I didn't hear that, but that's kind
• 10:25
  Speaker 9: of funny.
• 10:26
  Speaker 12: But then how much do you rely on your experiences
• 10:29
  Speaker 12: in Serbia when you're dealing with crowds like this, or
• 10:31
  Speaker 12: how much does that help you?
• 10:34
  Speaker 9: I mean, even playing like in Serbia. I played even
• 10:37
  Speaker 9: in like Small Dreams, whereas like little thirty people and
• 10:40
  Speaker 9: you can hear everything what they're saying to you. So
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: sometimes I think that's the worst because you can see
• 10:45
  Speaker 9: the guy who is telling you, and I play in
• 10:48
  Speaker 9: front of a lot of people. I'm playing even for
• 10:51
  Speaker 9: like an international team. I'm playing in front of other
• 10:54
  Speaker 9: like other countries, So it's definitely experience that I I
• 10:59
  Speaker 9: don't I'm gonna say, I don't get distracted by fans.
• 11:03
  Speaker 9: Let's that.
• 11:05
  Speaker 11: Tonight coach talked about how honest this team is, especially
• 11:08
  Speaker 11: during those tougher conversations during the game. From the outside
• 11:10
  Speaker 11: looking in, how would you describe what it's like to
• 11:12
  Speaker 11: be a part of a team with minimal egos and
• 11:14
  Speaker 11: one common goal.
• 11:16
  Speaker 9: Yes, definitely, I think we're definitely getting on each other
• 11:21
  Speaker 9: special late list. We're just s telling the truth and
• 11:24
  Speaker 9: we are you know, accepting it and the guys accepting
• 11:28
  Speaker 9: it to whoever is like if someone stake say something
• 11:31
  Speaker 9: to me or whatever. We are accepting it and we
• 11:35
  Speaker 9: just want to win, you know. It's it's a great
• 11:37
  Speaker 9: it's a great feeling inside of the team, and hopefully
• 11:41
  Speaker 9: we can continue to play like this and feel like this.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: One of those guys that you were battling against down
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: low is as a hard and side just curious to
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: know what you remember from his time in Denver.
• 11:50
  Speaker 12: Playing alongside him, and just how impressed are you with
• 11:52
  Speaker 12: the type of player.
• 11:53
  Speaker 9: Oh, it was it was a long time ago, but yes,
• 11:56
  Speaker 9: of course in New York he kind of stood out,
• 11:59
  Speaker 9: step up. Like in his game, he's doing he's doing
• 12:02
  Speaker 9: an amazing drib. You know, he's he's uh, he knows
• 12:06
  Speaker 9: versus to be. He's always there. He's attacking the offensive glass.
• 12:10
  Speaker 9: He's signing gray screens. Open, guys up. He has a
• 12:13
  Speaker 9: really good touch, like Florida, whatever is the uh like
• 12:18
  Speaker 9: comment that is sixteen feet? Is that? Whatever is the
• 12:22
  Speaker 9: floorter area? And I mean I think he developed himself
• 12:26
  Speaker 9: a really good player.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like guys,