With the Portland Trail Blazers hanging on by a thread against the Phoenix Suns in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter on Tuesday, they needed an MVP-caliber performance if they were going to come back.
They got one.
Deni Avdija showed why he should be in every MVP discussion in the future after scoring seven of his game-high 40 points in the final 3:30, including the game-winning layup with 16 seconds to play to give the Trail Blazers a heart-stopping 114-110 victory and send them into the playoffs as the seventh seed against the San Antonio Spurs.
His game-winner may not have been dramatic enough to live on in Trail Blazers lore like Damian Lillard’s playoff series winner against the Houston Rockets in 2014. Still, his performance should certainly vault him into the pantheon of all-time Portland greats, if he weren’t there already. Not only did his layup give Portland the lead for good, but he also drew a foul from Dillon Brooks, knocking one of the Suns’ best players out of the game with six fouls.
Avdija wasn’t on the court for the finish either, subbed out after making his free throw to put Portland’s best defensive unit on the floor. With Brooks out, the Suns turned to Jalen Green to try for a game-winning three, but Toumani Camara got a hand in his face. Jordan Goodwin had a chance for a putback, but Matisse Thybulle, who had just entered the game for Avdija, stripped the ball away and tossed ahead to Jerami Grant, and the veteran threw down an emphatic dunk as time expired.
With under four minutes to play, a Trail Blazers comeback looked unlikely. The Suns led by eight after Goodwin knocked down a three with 3:30 to play, and Phoenix’s win percentage stood at 94%. After leading by as many as 14 midways through the third quarter, the wheels had fallen off for Portland. They suddenly lost the ability to shoot three-pointers or hang onto the ball. From the seven-minute mark in the third quarter until 4:15 to play in the game, the Trail Blazers missed 11 consecutive three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Suns went on a monster run and led by as much as 11 in the fourth quarter. After Goodwin’s three with 3:30 to play, the Suns likely needed one more stop and one more bucket to start winding down the clock.
They would get neither.
The Trail Blazers’ defense came to life, they found their shot, and Portland went on a 17-5 run to close the game with Phoenix getting only one more field goal the rest of the way.
Jerami Grant, playing in his first game in April in five years, hit two of his trademark corner three-pointers over three possessions to get Portland the lead back at 107-106, and Phoenix couldn’t come up with any defensive stops of their own.
The wild swing stunned what had been a raucous Phoenix crowd, and will now give the Trail Blazers the chance to play in front of a packed house of their own when they host the Spurs for game 3 of their first-round series on April 24. It will be the first time Portland has hosted a playoff game since a Game 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.
After falling in six games to the Nuggets, the Trail Blazers became lost in the wilderness for years, culminating in coach Chauncey Billups being arrested and suspended for gambling allegations one game into this season. Everything after that game has been unknown territory and a new beginning for the Trail Blazers. A new coach. A new owner. A new hero in Avdija. Coming into the season, just being in contention for a play-in spot was a realistic goal for the season. They exceeded that by not just grabbing a play-in spot, but finishing with their first winning record since 2021 and getting the seventh seed to ensure that they had at least two cracks at a playoff spot. They didn’t need two. They just needed one heroic performance and some stingy defense at key moments.
Now this team has exceeded all expectations. They are heading toward an offseason of uncertainty, with a new ownership group evaluating the front office, evaluating a coaching staff without a permanent head coach, and negotiations over their future at the Moda Center still ongoing. But on Tuesday night, the Trail Blazers ensured those conversations will need to wait at least another two weeks.
For the first time in what feels like forever, they have the playoffs to get through first.
