Blazers’ Anfernee Simons Hits Buzzer-Beater To Beat Nuggets, 126-124

After a monster run in the second half, the Portland Trail Blazers clung on for dear life in the fourth quarter and held on to beat the Denver Nuggets. Anfernee Simons was the hero, scoring a layup at the buzzer to break the tie and send the fans home happy. The Blazers spread the scoring all over the court, with six players scoring at least 13 points. Overall, despite the ending, it was one of the Blazers’ best wins of the season. So let’s dig in.

Blazer of the Game: Deni Avdija. He sparked the Blazers on both ends, hitting his first 3 three-pointers and preventing some easy buckets for the Nuggets. He scored 19 on 6-9 shooting and helped set the table for Simons.

Stat of the night: Three-point attempt. A game after the Blazers seemed to take too many three-pointers, it worked in their favor tonight. Portland shot a lower percentage from three than Denver, which is usually a recipe for disaster, but took 12 more attempts and made enough of them to tip the scales.

What we’ll remember: Well, Simon’s buzzer-beater, of course.

What we’ll remember besides that: The Blazers turn into a team of Damian Lillards in the third quarter. Portland simply couldn’t miss where each player entered the action, hitting three-pointers, driving and changing hands or throwing up fadeaways. Before Denver could look up, the Blazers had 104 points before the fourth quarter began.

Box Score

What’s next: A glorious, normal post-NBA Cup schedule again. After long, interminable breaks for the last ten days, the Blazers play every other day in almost every game for the rest of the year, starting Saturday night in San Antonio against the Spurs.