The Portland Trail Blazers knew they had to play very well in Orlando to make the playoffs. At this point, the Blazers, who entered the bubble three and a half games behind the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference, have full control of the eighth-seed after defeating the Dallas Mavericks 134-131 on Tuesday.
If Blazers can stay at eight, they will only have to beat the ninth-seeded time once in the play-in game. If they fall to nine, they have to defeat the eighth-seeded team twice.
One of the reasons the Blazers are the eighth-seed is Damian Lillard. At times in Orlando, Lillard has been unstoppable. In seven games, the Blazers are 5-2, and Lillard is averaging 37.0 points, 9.2 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per contest.
Last night against the Mavericks, Dame went 17-32 from the field, including 9-17 from downtown and finished with 61 points. This is coming off a 51-point performance against Philadelphia on Sunday. According to espn.com and Elias, Lillard joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to accumulate three 60-point games in a season. Moreover, Lillard’s 112 points in his past two games is the sixth most in the past 50 seasons.
Here’s how the Mavericks reacted to Lillard’s 61-point performance.
“Coming into the game, we said he’s going to shoot 15 3s somehow,” Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. “He got up 17. The problem was that he kept getting to the free throw line. I haven’t looked at the film yet as far as whether the calls were accurate or whatever, but great players have a knack for getting the whistle to blow. Luka is the same way; he gets the whistle to blow. In the end, we were unable to keep him off the free throw line. When you let a guy that shoots like that shoot 18 free throws and score 18 points with the clock stopped, you’re putting yourself up against it. He’s a great player, and he puts you in some tough spots, no question about it.”
Luka Doncic, who had 25 points and 10 assists against Portland, had nothing but praise for Lillard.
“You guys saw it — he’s an amazing player. It’s really, really difficult to stop him,” Doncic said. “He had 61 points. He’s an amazing player, and it’s difficult to guard him.”
Mavs’ Trey Burke added: “You have to give Dame his credit. You always have to give a guy like that, with the ability to score the way he scores, his credit. At the same time, you have to give [Jusuf] Nurkić his credit too. That is a big boy. That is a screener that is hard to get around. You have guys like that around the league, and then you put him with a guy like Lillard, and you have to pick your poison. You have to give up layups, or you have to give up long threes. Obviously, everyone knows that Dame can get going from behind the arc. We tried to throw different looks at him, but it is tough. He has the ball in his hands, and he has a lot of freedom out there. So as a defender, all you can do is take away some of his shots that he makes and try to attack him back on defense.”
Lillard must continue to play at a high level for the Blazers to succeed, especially with C.J. McCollum’s back issues. If the Blazers were to get into the playoffs, they would be a tough out for the number one seed in the West, the Los Angeles Lakers, who they would play in the first round. In my opinion, on a neutral floor, the Blazers could give the Lakers problems. Not saying they beat the Lakers, but they could give them a long series.
On behalf of NBA fans around the world, let’s hope we get that series.
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