As Rip City held its collective breath, fretting over the intolerable possibility of another injury, Deni Avdija uttered eight words that spurred a gigantic exhale.
“I’m not freaking out about it,” the Portland Trail Blazers forward said. “It’s fine.”
The Blazers earned an impressive and entertaining 127-110 victory over the Miami Heat Thursday night before 16,824 at the Moda Center. It was their fourth win in a row and 11th over the last 14 games, and it nudged their January record to an NBA-best 9-2.
But the best news came afterward, in the corner of the locker room, when Avdija downplayed another ailment. The Blazers’ starting forward, who is in the middle of a breakout season featuring All-Star buzz, reinjured his back early in the third quarter and missed all but one minute, 57 seconds of the second half.
Avdija, who missed three games last week with a lower back strain, said he tweaked it again when he was closing out on defense and “did a sharp turn with my back.” He left the game for the bench with 10:03 remaining in the third quarter, then left the bench for the training room roughly three minutes later.
At some point during his three minutes on the bench, Avdija, who recorded 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes, lobbied to return to the court. But he was overruled by acting coach Tiago Splitter, who elected to err on the side of caution with his most important player.
“He felt it a little bit, it was a little stiff,” Splitter said of Avdija’s injury. “And it was my decision to take him out and kind of like save him from himself. He’s fine.”
Avdija moved around the postgame locker room in visible discomfort, but not nearly as much as when he first suffered the injury 11 days ago in a loss to the New York Knicks. He received treatment during the second half and when asked if he would play on Friday — when the Blazers host the Toronto Raptors in the second game of a back-to-back — Avdija said he would “leave it to the medical staff.” But Splitter said he was hopeful Avdija would play.
“It kind of locked up again,” Avdija said. “But it’s fine. It’s not as severe as the other one. I wanted to stay in (the game) because I was warm enough and, like, I’m a competitor. I wanted to stay and do what I can to help the team. But (Splitter) does a great job of protecting me. We still have a lot of season left. We don’t want to do stuff that’s going to affect me later.”
After facing several questions about the nature of his injury and his playing status, Avdija flashed a smile and fired a couple questions back:
“Anything about the game? Or only the back?”
The Blazers held the advantage most of the night in a game that was feverish, fast-paced and full of three-point shots. The difference was the Blazers (23-22) made their threes and the Heat (23-22) did not.
Portland went 20 of 50 from long-range (40%), making its second-most threes this season, as eight different players made at least one. The Heat, on the other hand, went 9 of 45 from three-point range (20%), falling to reach double-digits for just the third time in the last 18 games.
Toumani Camara had one of his best all-around games of the season, recording 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Caleb Love had 20 points and four assists off the bench, and Jrue Holiday added 15 points and seven assists.
But it was Shaedon Sharpe who carried the Blazers in Avdija’s absence, finishing with 27 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. After a forgettable first half in which he made just 1 of 8 shots and committed four turnovers, Sharpe was sensational after halftime, erupting for 24 points. He made 10 of 13 shots, including 4 of 5 threes, taunting the Heat with a barrage of pull-up jumpers, alley-oop dunks and step-back threes.
“Hell of a second half,” Splitter said of Sharpe. “He was hot … we just tried to give him touches and he did the rest.”
The Blazers’ defense mirrored Sharpe’s shooting — sketchy in the first half, sparkling in the second. After surrendering 63 points before halftime, the Blazers managed to slow down a team that plays the NBA’s fastest pace.
Miami scored just 48 points in the second half, including 18 in the fourth quarter. The Blazers’ three-point defense was particularly effective, limiting Miami to just 4-for-20 shooting over the final two quarters.
Backup center Robert Williams III drew most of the postgame praise — and earned the right to put his name in The Box — after snaring 10 rebounds and blocking three shots.
After watching teammates like Sidy Cissoko, Camara and Rayan Rupert put their names in The Box during the Blazers’ midseason hot streak, Williams called it “an honor” to do so for the first time, joking that “it was looking like a foreigner’s box, man. I’m glad I got in there.”
In the end, the Blazers outran, outshot and outworked the Heat, essentially beating them at their own game.
“It’s never fun when the rabbit’s got the gun,” Williams said.
But it’s also never fun dealing with injuries.
Thursday’s game was just the eighth this season in which Avdija, Holiday, Williams and Jerami Grant — four veterans expected to fill key parts of the rotation — have played together.
The Blazers were finally healthy and looked as dangerous as ever against the Heat. It lasted all of 26 minutes before Avdija’s back flared up.
Fortunately, he eased concerns with those eight words.
“I was just hoping that it wasn’t another scare or anything like that,” Love said of Avdija’s injury. “But he’s tough and I’m sure he’ll be all right.”
Next up: The Blazers play the Toronto Raptors on Friday at 7 p.m. at Moda Center.