Portland Trail Blazers – Miami Heat · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 25 March 2021

POR125–122MIA

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 89% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 32 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ MIA winsPOR wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when MIA leads and falls when POR does.

This is how the game was decided.

CJ McCollum decided it, the Portland Trail Blazers player with the most points (35, with 1 rebounds and 8 assists; +5 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Enes Freedom's (+21). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Miami Heat 122-125 Portland Trail Blazers (March 25, 2021) was hit by Damian Lillard: a free throw with 1.0 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Portland Trail Blazers up 123-122. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Miami Heat 122-125 Portland Trail Blazers (March 25, 2021) was a 12-0 run by the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter (from 7:40 to 6:53), from 99-100 to 111-100. The Portland Trail Blazers' best was a 11-0 run in the fourth quarter (from 6:05 to 3:48), from 100-110 to 111-110.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Damian Lillard makes free throw 1 of 3.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Damian Lillard decided this game: his points put his team ahead with one second left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 11 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Lillard decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

25 March 2021 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401307467:625; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · POR

Lillard · McCollum · Covington · Jones · Anthony

Closing lineup · MIA

Nunn · Ariza · Adebayo · Herro · Strus

Q1Q2Q3Q4

POR

Damian Lillard

39′ · +10

CJ McCollum

38′ · +5

Robert Covington

34′ · -14

Enes Freedom

33′ · +21

Derrick Jones Jr.

23′ · +5

Carmelo Anthony

33′ · +6

Nassir Little

20′ · -11

Anfernee Simons

20′ · -7

MIA

Kendrick Nunn

34′ · +4

Trevor Ariza

33′ · -23

Bam Adebayo

32′ · +11

Gabe Vincent

27′ · -6

Duncan Robinson

26′ · -6

Tyler Herro

35′ · -4

Precious Achiuwa

14′ · -9

Max Strus

22′ · +7

Andre Iguodala

17′ · +11

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. POR and MIA.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Portland Trail Blazers

Jones, Freedom, Lillard, McCollum, and Covington played 15.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Simons, Little, McCollum, Covington, and Anthony played 6.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 11 points.
Freedom, Lillard, McCollum, Covington, and Anthony played 4.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.

Miami Heat

Adebayo, Robinson, Nunn, Vincent, and Ariza played 12.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Adebayo, Vincent, Strus, Herro, and Iguodala played 5.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Adebayo, Robinson, Nunn, Herro, and Ariza played 5.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Portland Trail Blazers

Simons, Little, Lillard, Covington, and Anthony played 3.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Simons, Little, Freedom, Lillard, and Anthony played 3.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Jones, Freedom, Lillard, McCollum, and Anthony played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Simons, Little, Freedom, McCollum, and Anthony played 2.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Jones, Lillard, McCollum, Covington, and Anthony played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Little, Freedom, Lillard, McCollum, and Anthony played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Jones, Simons, Freedom, Lillard, and Anthony played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Jones, Simons, Lillard, Covington, and Anthony played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

Miami Heat

Adebayo, Nunn, Strus, Herro, and Iguodala played 5.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Nunn, Strus, Herro, Achiuwa, and Iguodala played 4.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Robinson, Vincent, Herro, Achiuwa, and Ariza played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Robinson, Nunn, Herro, Achiuwa, and Ariza played 3.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Adebayo, Nunn, Strus, Herro, and Ariza played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Vincent, Strus, Herro, Achiuwa, and Ariza played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Vincent, Strus, Herro, Iguodala, and Ariza played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Nunn, Strus, Herro, Achiuwa, and Ariza played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Tyler Herro covered 4.44 km, more than anyone in the game.

Damian Lillard touched the ball 86 times, a game high.
Damian Lillard made 60 passes, a game high.
Enes Freedom defended 6 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 6.
Enes Freedom had 21 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Portland Trail Blazers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
CJ McCollum	4.34	6.5	73	44
Damian Lillard	4.33	6.2	86	60
Robert Covington	3.75	6.1	55	47
Enes Freedom	3.72	6.3	38	24
Carmelo Anthony	3.30	5.6	42	22
Derrick Jones Jr.	2.90	6.9	16	8
Nassir Little	2.45	6.9	18	13
Anfernee Simons	2.41	6.9	28	22

Miami Heat

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Tyler Herro	4.44	7.0	68	44
Kendrick Nunn	3.88	6.4	55	37
Trevor Ariza	3.67	6.2	37	27
Bam Adebayo	3.43	6.0	61	39
Gabe Vincent	3.30	7.0	54	40

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2020-21 regular season, not this game.

Portland Trail Blazers

Robert Covington deflected 3.6 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 2 of 364 in the league.
Damian Lillard recovered 1.0 loose balls per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 31 of 364 in the league.
CJ McCollum recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 47 games.
He ranks 47 of 364 in the league.

Miami Heat

Gabe Vincent drew 0.29 charges per game over his 41 games.
He ranks 8 of 364 in the league.
Bam Adebayo contested 9.9 shots per game over his 64 games.
He ranks 19 of 364 in the league.
Trevor Ariza deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 30 games.
He ranks 26 of 364 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Miami Heat have won 31 of their 75 games against the Portland Trail Blazers.

31-44record of the Miami Heat · NBA 1988-89 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1988-89 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Scoring

247

combined points

22.8 above the season average (224.2)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

23 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Shooting · 01:57.0

Bam Adebayo → Carmelo Anthony

Adebayo (MIA) brings his arms down from a vertical position and makes contact with Anthony's (POR) arm that affects his shot near the rim.