Blazers Close Out Homestand With Close Win Versus Hawks

PORTLAND -- A close win is worth the same as a blowout win in the standings, but it’s certainly nice to be able to do both.

After failing for over a month to get a win by single digits, the Trail Blazers pulled out a 129-125 victory versus the Atlanta Hawks in front of a crowd of 18,262 Monday night at Moda Center.

“It’s always a good feeling when you can close one out,” said Damian Lillard. “I think for us, we not in a position to complain about how it happened, even though we made it a little harder than it had to be. We had a lead that we could have extended and finished the game better than we did, but it’s the NBA. The best in the league and they play to win, too, and sometimes they’re able to make a run at it. It feels good to be able to deal with that and just not fold, not fall apart and let this game slip, because it could have happened.”

The Trail Blazers are now 24-26 overall, 14-11 at home, 6-9 in January and 3-3 in a now-completed six-game homestand.

“Obviously we haven’t been able to pull out a couple close games,” said Anfernee Simons. “To be able to do that, it gives you confidence next time this does happen. We feel like we’ve been there before, we’ve got a confidence, we know what to do. I think we’re going to come out and be more successful in those moments, so I think it was good.”

Portland might not have won as many games as they would have liked in the last month, but the wins they have secured recently have all been by double digits. They’ve lost plenty of close games, not exactly something to brag about, but it had been a month and a half since they had won a game in which the final deficit was in the single digits.

At least until Monday night.

The Blazers got off to a good start, something that has also been a recurring issue as of late, and held the lead for almost the entirety of the game. And when a Nassir Little three gave Portland a 111-101 lead with 8:30 to play, it seemed as though the Trail Blazers might be on the way to yet another double-digit victory, which they would have been more than happy to collect.

But Portland has had an issue closing out close games this season, and when the Hawks went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 119-119 with just over a minute to play, the question became whether they would win their first close game since December 10 or lose another close one to finish out what was already a lackluster homestand.

Thanks to the play of their starting backcourt, they ended up with the former.

After five-straight free throws from Dejounte Murray, Lillard converted a layup to give Portland a two-point lead with 54 seconds to play. Murray made two more free throws on the next possession to tie the game once again, this time with 41 seconds to go.

But on the next play, Lillard drew a double team that left Anfernee Simons wide open from three, a rarity for one of the leaders in three-point makes this season.

“Honestly, I’m not used to people helping off that much, even if Dame’s driving,” said Simons. “I wasn’t really expecting the ball but I was prepared for it. Usually they don’t really help off of me like that, but he held way off and I got pretty much an easy three to get off. Easy as they come.”

Simons converted the look to give the home team a three-point lead, which, along with Bogdan Bogdanovic going 1-of-3 from the free throw line on the next possession, was enough to secure the victory.

“They tied it up, if we don’t score on that possession and they come down and score, now we in a different position,” said Lillard. “But we was able to hold on and execute and do what we needed to do to finish the game out. It was perfect for us, we needed to win one like that, especially finishing out this homestand and getting ready for another road trip.”

Lillard, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week prior to Monday’s game, finished with 42 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field, 5-of-12 shooting from three and 17-of-17 shooting from the line, six assists, two rebounds and no turnovers in 38 minutes. The 6-3 point guard in his 11th season out of Weber State has averaged 38.8 points on 53 percent shooting from the field,, 41 percent shooting from three and 95 percent shooting from the line, 7.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds in his last 10 games.

Simons went 8-of-12 from the field and 5-of-8 from three for 21 points to go with seven assists, a rebound and a block in 32 minutes. Jerami Grant posted 22 points, two rebounds, two blocks and an assist in 34 minutes.

Jusuf Nurkic added 12 points and five rebounds. Josh Hart posted nine points 12 rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes and Shaedon Sharpe added 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.

Murray led the the Hawks with 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Bogdanovic added 23.

Next up, the Trail Blazers head to Memphis to face the Grizzlies in their first road game in over two weeks. Tipoff is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m.