Denver Nuggets – Portland Trail Blazers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 19 December 2024

DEN124–126POR

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 86% of NBA games since 2017

· The win probability swung between the two teams 25 times

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.

↑ POR winsDEN wins ↓

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

This is how the game was decided.

Anfernee Simons decided it, the Portland Trail Blazers player with the most points (28, with 1 rebounds and 10 assists; +3 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Donovan Clingan's (+9). 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 Portland Trail Blazers 126-124 Denver Nuggets (December 19, 2024) was hit by Anfernee Simons: a layup with 0.0 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Portland Trail Blazers up 126-124. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Portland Trail Blazers 126-124 Denver Nuggets (December 19, 2024) was a 10-0 run by the Portland Trail Blazers in the third quarter (from 7:13 to 4:51), from 75-74 to 85-74. The Denver Nuggets' best was a 10-0 run in the second quarter (from 1:39 to 5.1 s), from 56-66 to 66-66.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Anfernee Simons makes driving layup.

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.

Anfernee Simons decided this game: his points put his team ahead at the buzzer of the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 3 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Simons 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.

19 December 2024 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401704937:658; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · DEN

Murray · Jokic · Porter · Gordon · Westbrook

Closing lineup · POR

Grant · Ayton · Simons · Sharpe · Avdija

Q1Q2Q3Q4

DEN

Jamal Murray

38′ · +1

Nikola Jokic

37′ · -5

Michael Porter Jr.

32′ · +7

Aaron Gordon

31′ · 0

Christian Braun

25′ · -12

Russell Westbrook

33′ · +7

Julian Strawther

10′ · -17

Peyton Watson

17′ · -2

DeAndre Jordan

11′ · +3

Hunter Tyson

6′ · +8

POR

Toumani Camara

36′ · +6

Jerami Grant

36′ · -6

Deandre Ayton

35′ · -3

Anfernee Simons

35′ · +3

Shaedon Sharpe

29′ · +4

Scoot Henderson

27′ · +5

Deni Avdija

21′ · -7

Donovan Clingan

12′ · +9

Robert Williams III

10′ · -1

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

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Porter, Braun, Gordon, and Jokic played 12.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 11 points.
Porter, Braun, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 9.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Murray, Porter, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 8.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 16 points.

Portland Trail Blazers

Simons, Ayton, Sharpe, Camara, and Grant played 21.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Simons, Williams, Avdija, Henderson, and Clingan played 8.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Ayton, Henderson, Sharpe, Camara, and Grant played 5.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 12 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Watson, Tyson, Westbrook, and Jordan played 5.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 8 points.
Murray, Strawther, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 5.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Murray, Strawther, Watson, Westbrook, and Jordan played 3.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Murray, Porter, Braun, Watson, and Jordan played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Murray, Strawther, Braun, Watson, and Jordan played 1.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

Portland Trail Blazers

Ayton, Avdija, Henderson, Camara, and Grant played 5.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Simons, Avdija, Henderson, Camara, and Clingan played 3.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Simons, Williams, Avdija, Henderson, and Grant played 1.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Ayton, Avdija, Henderson, Sharpe, and Grant played 1.4 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.

Toumani Camara covered 4.97 km, more than anyone in the game.

Nikola Jokić touched the ball 105 times, a game high.
Nikola Jokić made 81 passes, a game high.
Toumani Camara defended 8 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 7.
Deandre Ayton had 19 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Denver Nuggets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jamal Murray	4.59	6.7	65	41
Nikola Jokić	3.99	6.1	105	81
Russell Westbrook	3.77	6.3	61	44
Michael Porter Jr.	3.72	6.4	35	19
Aaron Gordon	3.51	6.4	50	40
Christian Braun	3.01	7.0	32	21
Peyton Watson	2.22	7.3	23	17
DeAndre Jordan	1.26	6.1	17	13
Julian Strawther	1.24	7.1	11	7
Hunter Tyson	0.77	7.5	5	3

Portland Trail Blazers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Toumani Camara	4.97	7.7	54	42
Anfernee Simons	4.28	6.9	81	57
Jerami Grant	4.28	6.7	50	32
Deandre Ayton	3.85	6.2	53	35
Shaedon Sharpe	3.54	6.9	52

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 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokić deflected 3.8 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 4 of 388 in the league.
Russell Westbrook deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 46 of 388 in the league.
Jamal Murray recovered 0.7 loose balls per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 49 of 388 in the league.

Portland Trail Blazers

Toumani Camara drew 0.40 charges per game over his 78 games.
He ranks 1 of 388 in the league.
Donovan Clingan contested 9.7 shots per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 10 of 388 in the league.
Deandre Ayton contested 7.8 shots per game over his 40 games.
He ranks 26 of 388 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 Portland Trail Blazers have won 115 of their 230 games against the Denver Nuggets.

115-115record of the Portland Trail Blazers · NBA 1976-77 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1976-77 – 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

Attendance

16.753

86.3% of capacity

Moda Center · Portland

Scoring

250

combined points

22.3 above the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

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

8 calls reviewed0 no admitted errors