CNN
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Damian Lillard set an NBA file in his monster scoring evening on Sunday, racking up 71 points in 39 minutes, together with 13 three-pointers, because the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets 121-114.
With his effort, Lillard turned the first player in NBA history to score greater than 70 points in under 40 minutes and simply the eighth player to hit the 70-point mark.
He can be the one player on that elite listing to score 70 over the age of 30, and the first to achieve this with 10 or extra three-pointers.
“I enjoy those moments in the game when I’m just going after people,” the NBA All-Star mentioned after the sport. “That’s all it was tonight. I wanted to be in attack mode. I got it going and stayed aggressive.”
Lillard got here into the sport averaging 37.6 points in his earlier 18 video games and continued that stellar run with a league-wide, season-high mark, equaling Donovan Mitchell’s 71 points towards the Chicago Bulls in January.
Lillard began the scoring early, with 41 points, together with eight three-pointers at halftime. Whether driving into the paint or dropping photographs from distance, the Blazers guard was unplayable.
He made all 14 of his free throw makes an attempt and had a magnetic relationship with the basket when taking pictures – even sinking a daft, 36-foot jumper in the second quarter.
He ended the sport taking pictures 22-of-38 from the sector, making 13 three-pointers from 22 makes an attempt – only one off Klay Thompson’s file 14 3-pointers set in 2018.
Lillard’s teammates continued in search of him in the closing minutes to attempt to get forward of Mitchell’s whole, however after lacking a few photographs, he got here off the courtroom exhausted with 44 seconds left the clock.
“It really, really was a masterful performance,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups mentioned of his star’s sport. “It was a piece of art. That was incredible.”
With that efficiency, Lillard entered a pantheon of NBA greats. His 71-point haul is tied for the eighth-most points scored in a sport in NBA history, although nonetheless a way off Wilt Chamberlain’s file of 100 points set in 1962.
Lillard is behind solely Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant for profession 60-point video games and he joins the 2 NBA legends as the one gamers to have separate video games hitting 50, 60 and 70 points in a season in accordance to CBS Sports.
“I think any hooper enjoys those moments when you’re hot, you’re in attack mode, you’re feeling good,” he mentioned.
Not solely was it an excellent particular person exhibiting from Lillard, but it surely was additionally a a lot wanted one.
The Blazers snapped a two-game shedding skid with the win and preserve their slim hopes of a playoff spot alive. Portland now sits in 11th place in the Western Conference with a 29-31 file however is barely three video games off the Phoenix Suns in fourth.
The Trail Blazers keep on the west coast for his or her subsequent sport as they journey to the Bay Area to play the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday evening.