Northwest Notes: Gordon, Malone, Gobert, Doncic

The Nuggets don’t expect Aaron Gordon to shut down Kevin Durant, but his defensive effort so far has played a large role in Denver’s 2-0 series lead, writes Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. Durant has scored 29 and 24 points in the first two games of the series, but he’s had to work hard to get those points. He shot 10-for-27 from the field in Game 2 and was just 2-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Gordon’s defense is a big part of that effort, Keeler adds. In the 17 minutes that he has been Durant’s primary defender during the series, Gordon has limited the Suns‘ star to 8-of-20 from the floor and 1-of-5 on three-pointers with just two free throws and five turnovers. That follows a similar defensive performance against Karl-Anthony Towns in the first round.

“The thing that jumps out to me in these playoffs is (that) Aaron is the definition of selfless,” coach Michael Malone said. “I mean, talk about a guy that, knowing that (Michael Porter Jr.) and Jamal (Murray) were back, has checked his ego at the door the whole season and he quietly goes under the radar. But the impact he is having is so profound both on offense and defense, (especially) by taking the other team’s best player (defensively).”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

• Malone is warning his players not to get too comfortable after two wins at home, per Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post. The Nuggets appear to have control of the series, especially with Chris Paul unlikely to play in at least the next two games, but Malone understands that things can turn around quickly. “Whether it’s Chris Paul, Cameron Payne, Landry Shamet, our game plan remains the same,” he said. “We know that they have two guys in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant that are great players and they’ll have their home crowd in front of them. Down 2-0, we’re going to get their best effort and we have to exceed that.”
• Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reexamines the Rudy Gobert trade that transformed the Timberwolves last summer. He acknowledges that Minnesota overpaid for Gobert, but adds that president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and coach Chris Finch still believe Gobert and Towns can be effective together. “I thought it was a great learning experience and I’m excited to see (with) some real time together where we can get,” Gobert said. “And we saw some glimpses of that this year and we saw that we can give teams a lot of trouble.”
• In a discussion of the Nets’ offseason, John Hollinger of the Athletic states that the Jazz are “keeping a very interested eye” on Luka Doncic‘s situation in Dallas. If Doncic were to ask the Mavericks for a trade, Utah has a huge parcel of draft assets to offer.