Aaron Gordon calls out refs, 'handsy' Thunder for physical defense on Nikola Jokic

With the way the NBA playoffs have been loosely officiated — allowing hand-to-hand combat typically seen in the UFC octagon — the patience of the players is wearing thin.

Aaron Gordon has definitely had it with the way Nikola Jokic is being defended.

The Denver Nuggets forward spoke out about the freedoms the Oklahoma City Thunder are enjoying when guarding Jokic. Gordon made it clear that the rough stuff had nothing to do with Wednesday's lopsided Game 2 outcome — a 149-106 beatdown that saw OKC set an NBA playoff record with 87 first-half points.

“In a game you get smoked by 40, it’s not the referees," Gordon said.

However, he a lot to say about the Game 2 officials — Scott Foster (who was making his postseason debut after recovering from a calf injury), Ed Malloy and James Williams — and the way they allowed the Thunder to get physical with Jokic, who was held to only 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists.

“If they're going to let them push him and shove him or (put) two hands on him, root him out, the knee — you got elbows and all types of stuff they're doing to him — that's not necessarily legal," Gordon told reporters. "There's not much that you can do. Jok got to play through it. If they're not going to call it, they're not going to call it. But they're fouling the guy.”

Aaron Gordon on OKC’s physical defense:

“They’re fouling, point blank period, throughout the game.” pic.twitter.com/yvS02GWbgU
— Addam M. Francisco (@SuaveCEO_) May 8, 2025

As the game got out of hand, the play got chippier with both teams engaging in hard fouls. In the third quarter, Jokic was so annoyed with the constant bodying by OKC defenders that he just fell on top of Jaylin Williams while the two were fighting for position in the low post. Jokic ended up fouling out with 1:17 left in the third quarter.

Being 300lbs and jumping on someone’s back should count as attempted murder. What is Jokić doing bro? pic.twitter.com/dMFBkrrULS
— Daig Muse⚡️ (@DaigMuse) May 8, 2025

“They're calling the second foul almost every time. They're fouling Joker first and then Jok is reactionary and they do get the second foul a lot of the times," Gordon said. "But they're fouling him, point blank, period, throughout the game.

"It's a thing where you can't call every foul or you'd be calling a foul every single play, but they're fouling him. I mentioned to Jok, ‘You got to play through it. You got to play through it, be stronger, be more physical.’ All of us do. We all got to play through it because they're not going to call out every single play.

"They’re a very handsy team.”

Despite being noticeably frustrated with the officiating during the game, Jokic took the high road in his postgame press conference and gave the Thunder full credit for evening the series at 1-1.

"They were aggressive, they were going by us, they were rebounding the ball, they were much, much better than us today," he said. "That's why the score was so bad."

“Basically it was one team playing tonight.”

Full Nikola Jokic press conference ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/K3tyRa8Wun
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) May 8, 2025

Aaron Gordon calls out referees, 'handsy' Thunder for physical defense on Nikola Jokic

By Joe Lago | 3:56 AM EDT