The Portland Trail Blazers were doing a great job of handling losing teams.
In fact, they entered Thursday night with five wins in six games against teams that currently have losing records.
But none of those teams feature a player the caliber of Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, who put the Nets on his back with 35 points and eight rebounds and carried them to a 109-107 win at the Moda Center.
Interestingly, it was his late miss that set up the winning basket.
The drama began when Justise Winslow drew an offensive foul on Durant during an in-bound play with 31.8 seconds left — and 5.0 on the shot clock — with the Nets leading 106-103.
Jerami Grant followed by missing on a drive to the rim, but Jusuf Nurkic grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled while attempting to score. He made the first free throw, missed the second, and the Blazers fouled Durant with 14.9 seconds remaining while trailing 106-104.
Durant missed the first free throw, but made the second to give the Nets a 107-104 lead. The Blazers didn’t call a timeout and Damian Lillard brought the ball up the court. When the Nets swarmed him with a double team, he passed inside to Nurkic, who scored and was fouled, setting up a three-point play that tied the game at 107-107 with 6.5 seconds left.
The Nets called a timeout and set up a play for Durant. His fadeaway jumper near the top of the key missed, but Royce O’Neale muscled his way to the hoop for a put-back, tipping the ball off the glass and in to give the Nets a 109-107 lead with 0.7 seconds remaining.
The Blazers attempted a pass near the rim to Grant, but the ball was tipped and went out of bounds with 0.1 seconds remaining, and the Nets survived in Portland.
Lillard led the Blazers with 25 points and 11 assists, Anfernee Simons scored 24 points and rookie Shaedon Sharpe added a career-high 20 points off the bench.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (10-5) let this one slip away, in part, because they shot poorly. They made just 38.7% of their shots, including 36.1% from three-point range. The Nets (7-9) got 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists off the bench from the struggling Ben Simmons. It was that kind of night for Portland.
SHAEDON SHARPE
The rookie came off the bench in the first quarter and by the time he left the game with about four minutes remaining in the half, he had scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while making all three of his threes. His first two baskets — a dunk and a mid-range jumper — came in less than a minute and gave the Blazers a 24-21 lead in the first quarter.
He ended up making 7 of 9 shots, including 4 of 5 threes.
PORTLAND, OREGON – NOVEMBER 17: Shaedon Sharpe #17 of the Portland Trail Blazers dunks against Yuta Watanabe #18 of the Brooklyn Nets during the first quarter at Moda Center on November 17, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)Getty Images
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Utah Jazz at 7 p.m. Saturday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
