The Portland Trail Blazers were seconds away from facing the indignity of losing thanks to not one but two of the most improbable collapses in recent NBA memory. Then, they got a reprieve in the form of a whistle that many in the building didn’t even hear.

After blowing a 15-point lead with two minutes left in regulation and a 6-point lead with 33 seconds left in overtime against the Sacramento Kings, the Trail Blazers rescued a 134-133 victory from the jaws of defeat after forward Deni Avdija was fouled by Sacramento’s Russell Westbrook with 1.5 seconds remaining. Many Kings players had even begun celebrating because they did not initially hear the whistle.

Instead, as Westbrook and several other Kings players protested the call, Avdija made both free throws to save Portland.

The Kings lost by one after the refs called this a foul on Russell Westbrook with 1.5 seconds left in OT 🤬 pic.twitter.com/4edvxsWGhV

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 19, 2025

“I don’t know,” Avdija said in a postgame interview on the Trail Blazers broadcast when asked to sum up the end of the game. “I’m out of words right now.”

The foul occurred after Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan hit a jump shot with 4.4 seconds remaining to give the Kings a 1-point lead. Facing the prospect of a bitter defeat, Avdija took the inbounds pass and charged down the floor. He veered into Westbrook’s path and even appeared to extend the ball into Westbrook’s face. But because Westbrook was not in front of Avdija, he was charged with the foul.

The Trail Blazers broke open an even game early in the fourth quarter and seemed to be cruising to an easy victory. They led by 18 points with a little more than five minutes remaining after a Jerami Grant 3-pointer, then led by 15 points as the clock ticked below the two-minute mark. But they shockingly blew the advantage with a series of errors, including a shot-clock violation, two missed free throws and an Avdija turnover with 20 seconds left and Portland up by 3.

Meanwhile, Sacramento continued to chip away. DeRozan and Westbrook led a regulation-closing 17-2 run, combining to score the Kings’ last 14 points. It looked like the Kings’ comeback would fall short after rookie center Maxime Raynaud fumbled an uncontested rebound of a missed Trail Blazers free throw. Down 2, the Kings fouled Blazers center Donovan Clingan, who hit just one of two free throws.

That set the stage for DeRozan’s stunning tying 3 to force overtime. After the Blazers nearly knocked away the Kings’ inbound pass, DeRozan picked up the loose ball, got Portland’s Kris Murray to bite on a pump fake and sank a shot from the corner as the Moda Center crowd groaned in unison.

DEMAR DEROZAN CAPS 17-2 KINGS RUN IN THE FINAL 1:53 TO FORCE OVERTIME 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Gi2uOV4KZM

— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2025

The Blazers recovered in overtime to take a 6-point lead with 33 seconds left, a stretch that included a Grant poster dunk on Raynaud. But DeRozan hit a 3 to slice the lead in half, and Sacramento’s Keegan Murray stole the ensuing inbounds pass. After two Sacramento free throws, the Blazers inbounded to Clingan, who was fouled. He missed both free throws, setting the stage for DeRozan’s go-ahead jumper that seemed destined to complete Sacramento’s comeback.

Instead, fate — and a controversial last-second call — intervened.