After sprinting the length of the court in a blur, hoisting a prayer at the buzzer and watching the Sacramento Kings bench erupt in celebration, Deni Avdija had briefly accepted the worst.
The Portland Trail Blazers had squandered a 15-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in regulation and flopped in overtime, suffering one of their most inexplicable and embarrassing defeats of the season.
“For a split second,” Avdija said, “I was like, ‘Damn. That was a crazy game. Crazy loss.’”
But amid the celebration, there was a whistle. And after the whistle, there was relief.
Avdija made two free throws with 1.5 seconds left in overtime, a desperation half-court heave bounced off the backboard and the Blazers pulled off a stunning Houdini act Thursday night, escaping with a 134-133 victory over the Kings before 16,382 at the Moda Center.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to be happy with the win,” Avdija said. “Because at the end of the day, it could have been a loss. At the end of the season, I don’t think we will remember how we won that game.”
That last part is debatable — it’s hard to imagine anyone forgetting this one anytime soon.
The Blazers were seemingly cruising toward a convincing win late in the fourth quarter, using a 25-6 burst, a clutch finish from Avdija and sturdy defense to build an 18-point edge. After Avdija converted a driving layup with 2:28 left and Jerami Grant blocked a Keegan Murray driving layup 31 seconds later, the Blazers had a 113-98 lead, the ball and a win in their sights.
Then things went bonkers.
The Blazers struggled to inbound the ball. They couldn’t make a shot. They flopped at the free throw line. They committed crucial turnovers.
All the while, DeMar DeRozan caught fire, the Kings (6-21) started drawing fouls and making free throws, and the game was flipped on its head. When DeRozan swished a three-pointer with 7.8 seconds left and Grant bricked a pull-up three at the buzzer, Sacramento had closed regulation with a 17-2 run to force overtime.
It was more of the same in overtime, as the Blazers opened up a six-point lead … and promptly blew it.
After making just 2 of 6 free throws over the final 28 seconds of regulation, Donovan Clingan missed three over the final 33.2 seconds in the extra period. And after committing three turnovers over the final 2:58 of regulation, the Blazers coughed up two more in the extra period.
“We stopped playing,” Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter said. “We didn’t manage the clock right. We were rushed, turned over the ball, (took) bad shots. And they were scoring on us every time. So I think we stopped playing. We relaxed.”
DeRozan, who was sensational over the final seven minutes of the game, scored 14 points in overtime, including the final seven during the final 23.2 seconds. His final basket — a beautiful, clutch turnaround 15-foot elbow jumper over Sidy Cissoko — came with 4.4 seconds left and gave the Kings a 133-132 lead.
That set up Avdija’s last gasp. He collected an inbound pass, dashed the other way and fired a shot from the right wing before the final horn. It missed everything. The Kings’ bench spilled onto the court in celebration.
Then came the whistle.
Russell Westbrook contested Avdija’s shot and drew contact — enough contact, in fact, for official Marc Davis to call a foul. Avdija atoned for Clingan’s misses by making both, and when Keon Ellis’ desperation heave missed, the Blazers escaped with a ludicrous win.
“I did create a lot of contact,” Avdija said, when asked if he thought he was fouled. “I didn’t expect to get called for a foul. Especially, like, it’s one second left. I tried to bump Russ and throw up a shot. But when you watch the replay, I did get bumped off my spot. So you can say it was a foul, but not a lot of referees would call it a foul. But Marc was really precise, you know what I’m saying?”
Was it a sign that Avdija, who is in the midst of an All-Star caliber season, is finally garnering a little respect?
“I mean, I’m getting fouled a lot,” he said. “But at the end of the day, that’s just my game. I don’t know if it’s respect or not, but it’s making the right call. And I feel like that’s what he did. He made the right call.”
The game-winning free throws put a bow on another electric night for Avdija, who finished with 35 points, five rebounds and five assists. Shaedon Sharpe scored 26 points, Clingan added 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks, and Grant was best when it mattered most, shaking off a cold-shooting night to score seven overtime points on 3-for-4 shooting.
He finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and one memorable monster dunk over Kings center Maxime Raynaud.
But the nature of the game — the near-collapse, the barrage of late-game blunders, the head-scratching missed free throws — left the Blazers (11-16) in an odd state after the game.
On the one hand, they were satisfied to have earned a nail-biting win, improving to 8-9 in “clutch-time” games. On the other hand, their play over the final seven minutes left a lot to be desired.
“Definitely an ugly game,” Grant said. “But a win is a win in the NBA, so we’ll take it. … I think it’s definitely a teaching lesson. I think everybody understands that we’ve got to be better. But to come out with the win is a positive.”
The consensus in the postgame locker room seemed to be that there were plenty of lessons to be learned and this time — unlike so many other times this season — at least the lessons came in a win.
The biggest lesson, according to Splitter, centered around his team’s approach and mindset.
“I think it’s a mentality thing,” Splitter said. “Like the way we started, I really didn’t like it at all. They scored 40 points in the first quarter and I had to use I don’t know how many timeouts just to get them right. We relaxed a little bit … these guys are too good. Now you got a couple punches in the face. Then you wake up. Then you play and … you’re up (18) and we relaxed and get punched again in the face. Luckily, we had energy and focus to finish the game in the overtime.”
Before the game, Splitter was bemoaning the fact that the Blazers and Kings play twice over a three-game span, with the rematch scheduled for Saturday night in Sacramento.
But afterward, Splitter changed his tone.
After watching his team fumble and bumble its way to an overtime win, barely avoiding calamity, he was eager to see if the lessons had, indeed, been digested.
“Now I want to play them,” Splitter said, smiling. “I said it was a bad thing. Now I want to play them again.”