One of the more tightly contested playoff series in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs was the one between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.
The two teams were pretty evenly matched, and apparently, frustrations boiled over for Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon and guard Russell Westbrook after Denver suffered a three-point loss in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series.
Reportedly, the two got into a verbal altercation, and Gordon called into question Westbrook’s attitude.
“MINUTES AFTER THE Nuggets lost Game 2 of their first-round series against the Clippers, [David] Adelman had a problem,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne wrote.
“While he’d been at the postgame lectern, there’d been a heated discussion between Westbrook and Gordon in the locker room, multiple sources told ESPN. Gordon had challenged Westbrook about his attitude.
“Outside the locker room, one player relayed why Gordon might’ve done so.
“‘He’s so immature,’ he said of Westbrook.”
One player did have a positive perspective on the heated exchange.
“The great thing about this team is we’re not afraid to talk honestly with each other,” the player told ESPN of the argument, “and hold each other accountable.”
The Nuggets didn’t exactly follow up their Game 2 loss with an inspiring Game 3 showing against the Clippers, as they lost the game by more than 30 points and fell in a 1-2 series hole.
However, Westbrook, Gordon and the Nuggets still came out on top in the series in seven games and picked up just one more loss for the remainder of the first-round matchup.
The two players who got into it after Game 2 were also crucial to the Nuggets advancing to the second round, as Gordon averaged 18.9 points per game against the Clippers while Westbrook stuffed the stat in a bench role.
But the Nuggets have now turned their attention to their second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who finished the regular season with 68 wins and the league’s best record.
The Nuggets are locked in another highly competitive series with OKC, as they have split the first four games with the Thunder. Denver was probably a solid fourth quarter in Game 4 away from taking a 3-1 series lead, though, as the team got outscored by 11 points in the final frame and lost by five.
Perhaps two valuable members of Denver’s supporting cast in these playoffs in Westbrook and Gordon will step their games up once again in Tuesday’s Game 5 and help the team take a 3-2 series lead. A win for the Nuggets would put them in a prime position to advance to the Western Conference Finals, as Game 6 will be a home contest for the Nuggets.
Denver’s last appearance in the Western Conference Finals came in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, and it won that year’s title after beating the Miami Heat in the championship series.
