Anfernee Simons clutch late as Trail Blazers beat Bucks, spoil Damian Lillard’s return

The night began with a rousing standing ovation for Damian Lillard, who on Wednesday night made his first appearance at the Moda Center to play against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Lillard embraced the love while waving to the fans. As the roars continued, Lillard’s Milwaukee Bucks teammates surrounded him, gave him hugs, patted him on the head as they jumped around him to celebrate his return to the place he called home for 11 seasons.

But on the night when Rip City celebrated the return of one of its most popular ever whose career included many clutch shots, it was his once protege, Anfernee Simons who came up big when it mattered most.

Simons hit a Euro-stop floater near the free-throw line to give the Blazers a one-point lead with 17 seconds remaining.

Brook Lopez missed a three at the other end with 5.6 to go and after two free throws from Jerami Grant, the Blazers held on to win 119-116.

Lillard scored 25 points on 9-of-23 shooting and hit just 3 of 14 threes.

Simons led the Blazers with 24 points.

Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said his team did a great job of handling the atmosphere.

“The atmosphere was awesome, obviously,” he said. “We knew that would be the case. I just don’t think the moment was too big for our team. We just played so hard. We played together. Continue to get better just playing for each other.”

Throughout the game, the Moda Center jumbo screen showed videos of Lillard from various points of his stellar career. What the video didn’t include were clips of a championship parade and Lillard hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The Blazers’ inability to build a title contender around Lillard led to him requesting a trade last offseason. He returned with a Bucks team that has the fourth-best record in the NBA. Portland has the fifth-worst.

But one couldn’t tell on this particular night. The Blazers, missing only Shaedon Sharpe from their normal rotation, took the action to the Bucks from the start. They couldn’t do much to stop third-rated offense in the NBA, but did a number on the Bucks’ defense, which is under repair since new coach Doc Rivers took over the team last weekend.

The Bucks clearly have a long way to go after giving up 67 points in the first half and allowing the Blazers, who rank 29th in offensive rating, to shoot 53.3% from the field and connect on 12 of 28 threes (42.9%).

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (15-33) picked up an emotional win over Lillard and the Bucks. Meanwhile, Milwaukee (32-16) is 0-2 under Rivers, who coached his first game with the team Monday at Denver.

NEXT UP

The Blazers start a two-game series Friday night at the Denver Nuggets.

— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)

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