After a strong run in the second half, the Portland Trail Blazers struggled against the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter. 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. All in all, despite the ending, it was one of the Blazers’ best wins of the season. So let’s take a look.

Blazer of the game: Deni Avdija. He sparked the Blazers on both ends, hitting his first three three-pointers and stopping some easy shots from the Nuggets. He scored 19 points on 6-9 shooting and helped set the table for Simons.

Stat of the night: Three-point attempts. One game after the Blazers seemingly took too many threes, things went in their favor tonight. Portland shot at a lower rate of three shots than Denver, which is usually a disaster, but needed 12 more attempts and made enough of them to make the difference.

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

What we’ll also remember: The Blazers turned into a Damian Lillard team in the third quarter. Portland just couldn’t miss it, with every player getting in on the action, making three-pointers, driving and switching hands, or throwing fadeaways. Before Denver could look up, the Blazers had 104 points entering the fourth quarter.

Box score

What’s next: Another glorious, normal schedule after the NBA Cup. After long, interminable layoffs over the last ten days, the Blazers will play almost every game every other day for the rest of the year, starting Saturday night in San Antonio against the Spurs.