The Portland Trail Blazers were one stop and 3.4 seconds away from winning the game of their season Wednesday night against the New York Knicks at the Moda Center.
Second-year guard Scoot Henderson had captained a statement performance with 30 points, getting the crunch-time call-up and delivering with big bucket after big bucket. Do-it-all forward Deni Avdija had just given the Blazers a 113-111 lead with a physical and-1, part of his 27 points and 15 rebounds. The Blazers had scrapped, clawed, and battled from down and out in regulation to on top in overtime, ready to sprint away to a three-day break with the feel-good win of the year.