Aaron Gordon was in that flow, the nebulous space of presence and fire that basketball players get when anything they throw up is going into the basket. It is the mastery of repetition and confidence.
The baskets do not light on fire as they seem to in video games. Nor do they actually grow into the size of peach baskets, seemingly easy to throw in. But the confidence is real. Stats be damned when it comes to the hot hand theory, players know when they have it going.
And so there was Aaron Gordon, the fourth pick of the 2014 draft and this bundle of unrealized potential, staring down his defender one more time.