Nuggets lose to Trail Blazers on Anfernee Simons buzzer-beater layup

Bennett Durando, The Denver Post on Dec 20, 2024

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The Denver Nuggets’ flare for the dramatic seems unlikely to go away any time soon. Generally this season, it has worked out in their favor. Not on Thursday.

Anfernee Simons drove to his right for a game-winning layup as time expired, handing the Nuggets their 11th loss of the season after they had erased a 17-point gap in the fourth quarter. The Portland Trail Blazers snapped a six-game losing streak with their first win of December, led by 28 points from Simons, including the buzzer-beater.

Denver (14-11) had a three-game win streak snapped. Next up is a matchup with the Pelicans on Sunday in New Orleans.

Can only comeback so many times

The entire arc of the game in Portland was an appropriate summation of the 2024-25 Nuggets. It’s as if they need to trail by double digits for a lightbulb to turn on. They lollygagged most of the first half, until the upstart Blazers finally punished them. Then, as soon as they fell behind 66-56 with 1:45 left before the intermission, the Nuggets decided to hit the reset button.

Nikola Jokic in particular. He was off to a fairly quiet start with nine points. He only needed a little encouragement. The Blazers gave him some. Twice in a row as Jokic brought the ball up, Deandre Ayton went under ball screens, daring a 49% 3-point shooter to shoot 3s. Jokic obliged, knocking down both to ignite an almost-effortless 10-0 run to close the half. Tie game.

The paradoxical problem with that comeback was that it was too early. Denver no longer trailed by double digits. Sure enough, Portland tallied five quick points to start the second half while it took three minutes for the Nuggets to score. They lost the third quarter by 17 because of another lackadaisical stint from the starting unit.

Like clockwork, one more furious comeback ensued from a team that has won four games this season after trailing by 10 or more in the final quarter. Denver’s second unit went on a 16-2 run, and the starters finally pulled it together in the last three minutes with a 9-0 burst to take the lead.

Eventually, though, the constant tightrope walk was bound to result in a slip and fall.

Ups and downs of Westbrook in closing time

Michael Malone went with backup point guard Russell Westbrook in the closing lineup over Christian Braun, a decision that was working out decently until the last shot.

Westbrook was excellent overall: 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, seven assists, two blocks. One of them seemed destined to become a defining moment of his Nuggets tenure so far. On the possession after Jamal Murray buried a game-tying 3-pointer, Westbrook collapsed in help defense to deny Simons cleanly. It led to a leak-out, a long outlet pass from Aaron Gordon, and a go-ahead dunk from Michael Porter Jr.

But when the game came down to one last Blazers possession with the shot clock turned off, they called Simons’ name again, offering him a chance at redemption. He blew by Westbrook in isolation and scored off the glass as time expired.

More box-out drills incoming?

During a four-day stretch without games last week, Malone decided to address the Nuggets’ rebounding failures by putting them through box-out drills in practice — a rewind of sorts to training camp. That seemed to do the trick, at least temporarily.

The odor of poor rebounding was back in full force against Portland. In spite of Denver winning the first quarter 35-30, the writing was on the wall from an effort standpoint. The Blazers started the game with an 11-2 rebounding edge (in just the first six minutes) and built a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points by the end of the frame.

Even though Denver didn’t get burned for it, one sequence late in the fourth quarter encapsulated Malone’s growing exasperation. Ayton rebounded his own miss on a 17-footer with Portland up 120-115. The second opportunity was a missed corner three by Shaedon Sharpe. A third shouldn’t have been possible, but Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. converged on each other for the board, causing the ball to ricochet away from them and into the waiting hands of Jerami Grant. Still, Ayton missed the ensuing layup, and Denver’s comeback stayed afloat.

Portland ended the night with 15 offensive boards for 21 points. The Nuggets are allowing more than 15 second-chance points per game.