In basketball, being able to see the rim before attempting a shot is recommended, but when you’re as dialed in as Anfernee Simons was in the third quarter of Monday night’s 135-110 victory versus the Denver Nuggets at Moda Center, it’s not a requirement.
He had a clear line of site on the 31-footer he took with 7:50 to play in the quarter, and another clean look on the stepback 29-footer he drained on the next possession. A little more than a minute later, Simons cashed in another long three, this of the 32-foot variety, and while Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon managed to get his hand up to contest, he was much to far away to offer much resistance. Gordon learned his lesson by the next possession, staying on Simons’ hip the regardless of his distance from the basket, though it ultimately didn’t stop him from converting third three of the quarter.
But on his fourth attempt, Simons wasn’t able to keep his eyes on the iron. The Nuggets knew just as well as everyone watching at home, in the arena and on Portland’s bench where the ball was going on the next possession, and they played it as such, with Bruce Brown working through the screen to contest the shot while both Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Gordon came over to provide assistance. The result of which was a difficult attempt for Simons, who didn’t land cleanly and apparently couldn’t see the basket, though it didn’t make a difference.
“I shot at the top of the key, the one I fell down,” recalled Simons. “That was the one I was like ‘Okay, I guess it’s one of those nights!’ I shot that one blindly, it was just like a blur at that moment.”
Simon would make one more three, a 26-footer with 4:10 to play in the quarter, to cap off a 22-point third quarter for the fifth year guard out of IMG Academy that turned what was a six-point halftime deficit into a 13-point fourth-quarter lead. He’s gotten in similar zones a few times in his career, but not to the level of Monday night in which the rules no longer applied every time he touched the ball.
“It’s hard to explain, honestly,” said Simons. “I don’t know, maybe that great feeling of finding money on the ground out of nowhere, something like that where you’re just like ‘Okay, I guess it’s my lucky day!’ It’s definitely a great feeling to come in that get that hot.”
That’s especially true give Simons’ struggle shooting to start the season, at least by his lofty expectations. After shooting better than 40 percent from three in the last two seasons, Simons started started 2022-23 by shooting just 21 percent from three in the first three games. But whether Monday’s performance was just the numbers averaging out or something more undefinable, it came at just the right time, as it almost certainly saved Portland from their first loss of the season in front of their fans against a divisional foe.
“It was just like, it felt like the crowd was about to fall on the court,” said Damian Lillard, who knows more than most it’s like to inhabit the zone Simons was in Monday night. “You could see people standing up and going crazy, it was loud. I know what it feels like to be in it as the person, you almost get tired because you know the team is trying to stop you and you also want to keep hunting the next shot because you so hot. But today, that’s what it felt like. I was just like, man, this dude is hot. He was hot. It didn’t matter if they was underneath him, he got fouled on one, it’s just a matter of when is he going to get tired, because he ain’t gonna miss one as long as he’s got some energy and some legs.”
Lillard was right, Simons missed just once in the third on the way to 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 shooting from three and finished with 29 point for the game, though he also received plenty of assistance from his teammates. Lillard went 10-of-16 from the field for 31 points to go with. eight assists, six rebounds and a steal in 34 minutes. Jusuf Nurkic posted a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds while also handing out a team-best six assists. Jerami Grant had 21 and both Nassir Little and Shaedon Sharpe scored 11 off the bench.
And maybe most importantly, they kept encouraging Simons to shoot, regardless of whether he could see the rim.
“Everybody been telling me to keep shooting over the last couple days, past couple games,” said Simons. “Obviously during that time, everybody is looking for me. They see that I’ve been hitting two and three in a row at that point. That just speaks to the team and how well-connected we are. Everybody has one common goal and that’s to win, so they’re going to do it by any means necessary. Somebody’s hot, find a way to get him the ball. And today, I guess I was hot and they kept finding me the ball.”