Fans debate validity of Aaron Gordon's miracle dunk with 0.1 second rule with Trent Tucker Rule
The Denver Nuggets escaped with an important win on Saturday. Nikola Jokic airballed a shot down the stretch, but Aaron Gordon still managed to grab the ball mid-air and dunk it with just 0.1 seconds left to give his team a 101-99 edge over the LA Clippers.
The series is now tied at two wins apiece, and while this is still the first round, that bucket will go down as one of the most exciting moments in NBA playoffs history.
It also sparked a bit of debate on Reddit. One user wondered whether Aaron Gordon's dunk was valid and if the league should implement a two-decimal shot clock during the last second of the game to determine whether those shots count.
He cited the Trent Tucker Rule, which essentially disallows all shots taken if the ball is put into play with less than 0.3 seconds left. This only allows teams to attempt a buzzer-beating tip-in from an inbound play, which rarely works out:
"I think AG's dunk is the first ever (proper) buzzer beater dunk. At the moment when his hands leave the ball, there is approximately 0.03 seconds left, which is just enough for the ball to pass through the hoop. Also, NBA doesn't use 2 decimals at clocks. I wonder if they could set the clock to 0.01 seconds," the redditor wrote.
"Josh Smith did get a buzzer beater off, because there is no time for the other team to score," another one said.
"The internal NBA replay team does have 2 decimals, they show it on screen sometimes but sometimes they don't," another fan chimed in.
"The question here was when does it leaves his hands. Like any other buzzer beater shooting and in the air the clock signal the end and the ball gets in," another fan said.
"Lol that got me thinking: what if they changed the rules so that you could keep playing after the buzzer as long as the ball doesn't touch the ground or a player who is on the ground. Put-backs are fine, and you could even have the NBA equivalent of the multi-lateral NFL plays at the end of games. 1 seconds on the clock but you can run a play (hook and ladder alley oop?) as long as no one dribbles and everyone has to catch the ball in the air and pass it before they land," another fan proposed.
The officials reviewed Aaron Gordon's dunk and confirmed that the ball left his hand above the rim right before the buzzer sounded.
Aaron Gordon talks about his altercation with James Harden
The game-winning dunk wasn't the only time Aaron Gordon made the headlines on Saturday. Gordon had to be held back from going at James Harden after the LA Clippers star badmouthed Cristian Braun over a foul call.
Following the win, Aaron Gordon claimed that he just had to step up for his teammate:
"I think he was just kind of getting a little bit chippy with CB. I think CB was doing a good job pressuring him. And, you know, I can’t let can’t let nobody step to my young fella," Gordon said.
"So I was just running, giving back up. You know, this will play on basketball because I always see these teams every day or every other day, play them so many times consecutively. Like, it’s bound to get chippy. It’s bound to get agitating."
This series has been as exciting as advertised, and while the Nuggets almost blew a 22-point lead in Game 4, the series is tied at two wins apiece and no team seems to have a major edge over the other.
