19 points may not sound like much compared to what we saw him do in the final game of last season, but make no mistake: this performance by Anfernee Simons is a real banger. Normally I’m no big fan of excessive replays, but this video is plastered with them. These buckets demanded replays. I’m imagining a C.J. McCollum performance where he scores 19, and none of his shots are replay-able. Compare that hypothetical to this reality, where all but two of Simons’ buckets were replayed.
McCollum is obviously (though perhaps less so than in the past) the better player, but if he ever dunked three times in a game, that would be the most outrageous occurence to happen in the entire history of the universe (aside from the universe itself randomly coming into being, an occurence so outrageous that it literally defies description). Simons dunking it three times in a single game is really nice, but not totally unexpected. Especially if the Blazers keep running that play that it seems like every team has where a guard curls around into a vacant paint to catch a lob.
How does that play even work? Again, I know nothing about X’s and O’s, but it seems like the kind of play that should maybe (maybe) work once and then never work again for the rest of the game. The Heat need to get coached up if they’re letting that thing happen multiple times.