Watch: Aaron Gordon’s alley-oop ices Nuggets win

When they need a basket late, the Nuggets' go-to play is an alley-oop dunk.

The connection from Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon is so reliable that the Nuggets regularly run plays in crunch time to get dunks. That’s what happened in Denver’s 115-109 win over the Celtics on Thursday night.

After two Jrue Holiday 3-pointers brought Boston to within two points, Jokic threw a hook pass over 7-foot-2 Kristaps Porzingis to get Gordon a dunk that gave the Nuggets a two-possession lead with 20 seconds left.

It’s becoming a regular event. Denver iced Saturday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers with another Jokic-to-Gordon alley-oop.

It’s almost impossible to stop. It’s hard to stop Jokic one on one. And while the Joker is a world-class passer, Gordon is a world-class dunker, able to catch and flush nearly any pass around the rim.

Jamal Murray proved that early in the fourth quarter, finding Gordon for a dunk with an alley-oop off the glass.

Even when it’s unintentional, Gordon got big dunks late, like when he rebounded a Jokic miss with a ferocious putback slam.

It’s hard enough to stop Jokic or Murray, two of the NBA’s best shot-makers. When you also have to worry about Gordon swooping in for dunks, stopping Denver late becomes almost impossible.