LOS ANGELES — Listening to Aaron Gordon talk about himself, you’d think he was simply another cog in the Nuggets’ finely tuned machine.
While teammates and fans gush when Gordon tears down an offensive rebound and follows up with a power dunk, the blue-collar forward sees it as a gritty part of his job.
“I’m just lurking on the baseline, trying to clean up all the garbage,” he said.
When Gordon is described as the catalyst that spurred Denver to a 3-0 lead in its first-round playoff series vs. the Lakers, he counters with a self-effacing reaction.