'You Dream of Plays Like That': Scoot Henderson Beats Jazz With Biggest Shot of His Career

📍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.”

Henderson’s game-winner made Thursday night one of the Blazers’ most dramatic wins of the year, but it was also one of his best games of the season: 18 points, 10 assists and only one turnover. He’ll never admit it, but after struggling for most of this season in much the same way he did in his rookie season, a performance like this—and a shot like that—was needed.

“I don’t need anything,” Henderson said afterwards. “I need my family, my support, and God. That’s it.”

Speaking of best games of the season, Deni Avdija had his best game as a Blazer. His 27 points off the bench came on 9-of-13 shooting, and he got downhill and got to the free-throw line 10 times on the night, but it was his defense that kept the Blazers from folding after Utah opened the second half on a 16-0 run.

“Most of the games that started the second half like that, we kind of let go of the gas,” Avdija said. “I feel like today, we showed some sort of character. We showed energy, we were humble, we made the right shots. We were together. We didn’t give up on any play. Everybody did great today.”

The Blazers took a one-point lead into the half after Shaedon Sharpe hit a buzzer-beating three. Utah’s run had them playing catch-up for all of the third quarter, and then a 14-6 run to start the fourth quarter, led by Sharpe and Avdija, put the Blazers back up.

Rather than closing with his starters (Anfernee Simons struggled shooting all night), Bjorkgren rode the lineup that got them back in it, including Henderson.

“I do exactly what Coach Billups would have done,” Bjorkgren said. “That group, some of those guys that were in there late, was just playing really well, so I decided to run that group longer instead of breaking that rhythm. And there were guys on the bench who were really supportive, and when I called their name to go back in the game, they produced.”

Whatever happens in the next two games to close out the calendar year, the Blazers getting to 10 wins before the start of 2025 is above where basically anybody had them. And even though the Jazz are one of the few teams in the NBA worse than they are, it’s the same team that beat them by 42 at home less than a month ago.

There aren’t many games a rebuilding team needs to win, but this was one. And they did. The final shot was also one Henderson needed to make, and he did.

“I see Scoot having a lot of confidence. Knowing where he wants to get to on the floor,” Avdija said. “And I’m so happy for him, because he’s working nonstop. We work out a lot together in practice. When I see his success and I see him making that big shot with confidence, that’s what a player needs.”

“You dream of plays like that,” Henderson said.