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Anfernee Simons · 24 hours removed from absorbing a 28-point loss to the Houston Rockets, the highlight reel would suggest that Anfernee Simons and the Portland Trail Blazers had two things in mind: payback and stepbacks. As the possibility of a victory as 12.5-point underdogs became increasingly plausible, Portland’s all-skilled combo guard requests a top-of-the-arc dance, starting with a pick-and-roll that disconnects Fred VanVleet and Alperen Şengün. Fluid in blending a stepback and sidestep variation at once, Simons — taking a page from Blazers backcourt legends of the past — buries both a go-ahead 3-pointer and the Rockets’ victory hopes at once. No. 1 across the NBA in terms of victories as pre-game underdogs, the Blazers used Simons’ heroics to engineer another against the Western Conference’s at-the-time No. 3 seed. The electrifying seven-year guard pieced together 25 points (15 in the final quarter), joined by four rebounds, three assists, and four 3-pointers on November 23, 2024. · State of Mint