'You Dream of Plays Like That': Scoot Henderson Beats Jazz With Biggest Shot of His Career
Henderson and Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers to a win over Utah.
📍PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trail Blazers’ two best wins of the season came exactly a week apart, with the exact same final score (122-120) that was sealed by a last-second shot. Last week, it was Anfernee Simons’ buzzer-beating layup that put away the Denver Nuggets.
This time, it was an opponent, the Utah Jazz, that earlier this month handed the Blazers their second-worst loss of the season. This time, it was a different coach, with Nate Bjorkgren filling in for Chauncey Billups following the recent passing of Billups’ grandmother. And this time, it was Scoot Henderson that put Portland ahead for good with one-tenth of a second left on the clock.
Henderson made up his mind on the final play that he was going to take the last shot. Before the play began, Deandre Ayton told him the two of them were going to run a pick-and-roll, and they’d live with the results.
“Originally, I was going to get to the rim. I see Walker [Kessler] step up, and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna beat him.’ But then he started tracking my steps, so I hit a little fade.”