MINNEAPOLIS -- Even though the Trail Blazers would lose 135-121 to the Timberwolves Saturday night at the Target Center with just eight players in uniform, the game had to be a bit of a relief for Anfernee Simons.
See, with so many players sidelined with injuries -- Portland had just eight players in uniform Saturday night -- the 6-3 guard in his fourth season out of IMG Academy has drawn more than his fair share of attention from opposing defenses.
After Portland entered the All-Star break on a four-game win streak, due in large part to the play of Simons, the Golden State Warriors threw a box-and-one look at Simons, a rarely-used zone defense -- it’s been employed against Damian Lillard at times, especially in the postseason -- in their first game, a 37-point loss, after the break.
“Obviously I’m going to be at the top of the scouting report even more now that (Jusuf Nurkic) is out,” said Simons. “So just learning how to navigate through that. Obviously it’s going to be even more tougher for me but it’s the perfect time to see everything. Like, the Warriors through a box-and-one at me, probably the first time I’ve been boxed-and-one since high school. That was an interesting thing to kind of navigate though.”
A few games later, Simons drew regular double teams in a 120-90 loss to the Suns in Phoenix. But these weren’t just your average defenders doubling Simons, it was Mikal Bridges, a lanky, long-armed forward who is arguably the best perimeter defender in the league, and Jae Crowder, a physical presence who has the experience and reputation to play the kind of rugged defense that would land others in foul trouble. With both Bridges and Crowder shadowing his every move, Simons scored just 11 points, his second-lowest scoring output since the end of December, on 4-of-10 shooting.
“People are coming at me now, especially the Suns,” said Simons. “I mean, I’ve told people that I’ve seen everything but that was something I had never seen before. I felt like I really couldn’t do anything. Act like I’m coming off the screen, I’d back up and concede to it and they would still come out to me. Bro, I’m not even trying to be aggressive right now, like go! That was the part where I was getting a little frustrated because I was like, I’m not even being as aggressive as I should be, I’m just trying to spread everybody out so I can get some numbers on the backside and they did not care. Not at all. ‘We don’t care, just give it up, please.’”
While a player of Simons’ caliber drawing more attention than his teammates from opposing defenses isn’t unique, the fact that the Trail Blazers have so few other scoring options available -- Lillard, Nurkic and Little are likely done for the season while Hart, Winslow and Bledsoe have been in and out of the lineup with various infirmities -- makes for a situation more difficult to traverse than the standard.
“I think he’s doing a pretty good job,” said head coach Chauncey Billups of how Simons has dealt with being at the focus of every opposing teams’ defensive game plan. “The biggest thing is he doesn’t have veterans out there to help him, it’s tough to play well like that. They pretty much throwing the kitchen sink at you and you really don’t have the vets, the guys who are used to helping you out, be able to relieve that pressure.
“I thought when Nurk was playing, being able to throw it down to Nurk, have Nurk set the screen and Nurk being the secondary playmaker took a lot of pressure off of Ant. And it’s tough now not having those guys, Nurk for sure and a couple of the other guys as well. Some nights he looks good and plays well, some nights he struggles. It’s all a part of the process.”
But Saturday night in Minneapolis, Simons got a break. Even though the Trail Blazers started Keon Johnson (averaging 2.7 points per game this season), CJ Elleby (4.6 points per game), Keljin Blevins (2.1 points per game) and Drew Eubanks (4.9 points per game), the Timberwolves opted to play a less aggressive brand of defense than Simons (17.0 points per game) has seen since the All-Star break.
Sure, they regularly rotated new defenders -- Jarred Vanderbilt, D'Angelo Russell, Jaylen Nowell, Jordan McLaughlin and Josh Okogie all took turns throughout Simons' 40 minutes on the court -- and they doubled on screens while all but ignoring the roll man, but for the most part, Minnesota seemed content to let Simons play free, at least relative to the defenses he’s encountered as of late.
“I think it was more normal,” said Simons of Minnesota’s defense Saturday night. “They were playing at the catch and kind of backing up a little bit, so I was able to get to my spots. I’ve seen that one before, so I know what times I can get a shot off and what times I can be aggressive and make plays. They wasn’t as aggressive as the Suns, for sure.”
With more room to operate, Simons responded by posting 38 points on 11-of-25 shooting from the field while making a career-best nine three-pointers in a 135-121 loss that was closer than the final score would indicate.
“They switched it up,” said Billups. “A lot of times they play in a drop, is what we would call it. Tonight, they weren’t able to. They did a couple times early and he kind of exploited the coverage. And then they started coming up to the level, making sure that Ant would get off of the ball, they did a good job of that, they made that adjustment. We made a few (adjustments) and a couple guys got really good looks, but we just kind of ran out of gas a little bit.”
It’s possible that the Timberwolves, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back Saturday, opt for a more aggressive approach to defending Simons in the rematch Monday night in Minneapolis. And it’s all but certain that Simons will continue to see multiple defenders while being subjected to various traps and denials as teams sellout on the defensive end in order to get the ball out of his hands. But with little to play for in the final 19 games of the 2021-22 campaign other than preparing for next season, Simmons might be better off in the long run figuring out ways to overcome being the target of aggressive defense, even in demoralizing losses, than he would flying under the radar in relatively meaningless victories.
“It’s going to be tough but this is the perfect time to get better at everything,” said Simons. “They’re going to be running at me. It’s going to be a good challenge, accepting it and trying to get better, learning how to figure it out. I mean, if I figure this out, there’s not much they can do. Just continue to try to learn through it. Obviously it won’t be perfect at first, so just trying to learn and figure it out. It’s going to be hard but I guess I’m put in this position for a reason.”