Has Portland Trail Blazers’ Anfernee Simons arrived, or has his recent play been a big tease? – OregonLive

This is the Anfernee Simons his Portland Trail Blazers teammates have been raving about.

The Simons who shoots the lights out in practice and uses his speed and agility to create opportunities. The Simons who is a handful at the practice facility.

That Simons has made appearances in Blazers games before, but he appears to have reached another level over the team’s past two games. In Sunday’s win over New York and Monday’s loss to Oklahoma City, Simons played 52 minutes, shot 16 of 26 (61.5%) from the field and 10 of 16 (62.5%) on threes for 42 points.

Simons has never scored that many points over consecutive games. Not even when he scored 37 against Sacramento in the final regular-season game of his rookie season (2018-19). He scored zero the previous game. In fact, 37 was Simons’ previous high for consecutive games.

Monday against the Thunder, Simons scored 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, made 6 of 10 threes and had one vicious baseline-driving, left-handed dunk that displayed his high-riser abilities. That’s the second-most points he has ever scored in a game.

None of Simons’ exploits, however, were met with surprise by his teammates. They’ve seen this all before behind closed doors.

“There’s a reason why we have a lot of faith in Ant and why we speak so highly of him,” Damian Lillard said.

Should Simons continue to play well, the Blazers just might be OK during this upcoming stretch of six road games minus CJ McCollum (broken left foot) and center Jusuf Nurkic (broken right wrist).

But two games do not a budding superstar make. Prior to Simons’ past two outings, he had made just 15 field goals on 50 attempts in 11 games.

On one hand, it could be argued that Simons’ play hadn’t warranted more playing time. On the other, one could argue that he should be allowed to work his way through his shortcomings. That’s easier said than done when Lillard and McCollum are eating up about 70 minutes per game and Gary Trent Jr. is getting 25.4. There are only 96 combined available minutes at the two guard spots.

So, when Simons gets on the court, he had better produce or the leash will be a short one.

With McCollum out at least four weeks, his 33.8 minutes opened up at shooting guard. What was bad for the team was good for Simons. But only if he continues to take advantage.

So far, Simons has, but will it continue? He most likely won’t shoot 62.5% from the field for the next few weeks. That would be unrealistic. He will have his down games. But his brimming confidence is apparent. He said he has been working hard all season, spending extra time in the practice facility working on his game.

“I think (my play) is just showing all of the hard work I’ve put in,” Simons said.

Simons said Lillard has given him good advice about taking his time on the court while also being aggressive yet mindful of his teammates.

“He was just trying to teach me different ways to attack using every possession, just to keep the other players on my team engaged,” Simons said.

Simons often operates as a point guard, playing while Lillard rests. However, it’s not a role where Simons has excelled. He has just nine assists this season in 168 minutes. He’s had just four in the last three games while playing 67 minutes.

Simons doesn’t often hold the ball long enough to make an assist. He wastes little time looking for his shot. But that’s not all bad. McCollum is essentially the backup point guard. When McCollum returns, Simons could have ample time to play shooting guard with Lillard or McCollum.

That will only help Simons get open looks, which he did while playing with Lillard here and there over the past few games.

“Guys are double-teaming him, so we get a lot of open shots on the wings, and we’ve got to take advantage of that and knock them down,” Simons said.

Lillard pointed out Monday that Simons, taken 24th by the Blazers in the 2018 NBA draft, didn’t play in college and remains young at just 21. Simons, Lillard said, simply needs experience, confidence and an opportunity.

“I think he’s shown signs all along,” Lillard said. “Sometimes he’s gotten into the games in the past and had big games and hit big shots.”

That Simons put together back-to-back strong games was encouraging to Lillard.

“He had a good night last night, and that game kind of bled over into tonight, as far as his confidence and how aggressive he was,” Lillard said following Monday’s game.

Now in his third year with more minutes coming his way, Simons so far is making big shots once again, which is no surprise to anyone in a Blazers uniform. Maybe the added confidence will lead to continued success.

“This is definitely who we think he can be,” Lillard said. “He can come in and score the ball. He can get to spots on the floor you can make plays and all that, so it’s good to see him put back-to-back games together like that.”

— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress(Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress(Facebook).

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories