Gordon starts Game 7 despite hamstring strain

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Denver Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon was cleared to play in Sunday's Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and started despite a left hamstring strain.

The Nuggets announced Gordon's status about 35 minutes before tipoff following his individual warmup. He ended up playing 25 minutes and scored 8 points with 11 rebounds in a 125-93 loss.

Sources told ESPN's Shams Charania that it is a Grade 2 strain, an injury that typically requires at least a month of recovery. Gordon sustained the injury late in the fourth quarter of Thursday's Game 6 win.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that I [was] going to play today," Gordon said. "The only thing that made me doubt playing was the MRI. The MRI told me something worse than what I was feeling.

"Obviously, I knew the risks. Unfortunately, the injuries were part of the game, so I knew the risks. But I wanted to be out there for my team."

Gordon suffered the injury late in Thursday's series-extending Game 6 win. He was officially listed as questionable to play before Sunday's game.

His teammates showered Gordon with praise following a game in which he led the team in rebounding.

"He gave us more than I think we all could ask for," Jamal Murray said.

"I told him to not play," Nikola Jokic said. "You can injure yourself even worse. You can see that he was struggling a little bit -- hard to move and this and that. But he's a lion. He went out there and fight with us, and we can just appreciate it."

Gordon, an essential part of the core of Denver's team that won the 2022-23 title, had been a force during the Nuggets' run this postseason. He entered Game 7 averaging career playoff highs of 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds and has made several clutch plays.

The Nuggets were 5-0 this postseason when Gordon scored at least 20 points, and his seven assists in Game 6 are tied for the most in any game of his playoff career.

Gordon hit a pair of winning shots this postseason as well -- a buzzer-beating putback dunk in Game 4 against the LA Clippers and a 3-pointer with three seconds left in Game 1 against the Thunder. He also made a 3-pointer with 28 seconds remaining in regulation that forced overtime in Denver's Game 3 victory over Oklahoma City.

Injuries limited Gordon, 29, to 51 games during the regular season. He sat out two extended stretches because of a right calf strain that he is also managing.

"Aaron Gordon is incredible," Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said after the game. "What he played with today, I don't know many people that would even attempt to go out there and run up and down -- and he did it in a Game 7 against Oklahoma City on the road. That was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen."