Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard had a historic performance against the Houston Rockets at the Moda Center on Sunday, finishing with a career-high 71 points to earn his side a 131-114 victory.
LEGENDARY. #RipCity pic.twitter.com/BaYNtlqSMK
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 27, 2023
On his record-breaking night, the seven-time All-Star scored the joint eighth most points in an NBA game while also setting a new franchise record, breaking his previous record of 61 points, which he had done twice. Only Wilt Chamberlain (five times with a high of 100 points), Kobe Bryant (81) and David Thompson (73) have scored more in a game.
Lillard also recorded 13 3-pointers, topping his former career-best of eleven. He was just one shy of the NBA record set by Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson in 2018. He joins Warriors superstar Stephen Curry (2016) and Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine (2019) as the other players with 13 3s.
2nd-most 3PM in a game in NBA history (13)
8th player to score 70+ PTS in a single game (71)
The first player in NBA history with 70+ PTS, 5+ REB, 5+ AST and 10+ 3PM in a single game…What a night for Damian Lillard 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8MMHxePNUu
— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2023
On his brilliant performance, the reigning 3-point “Starry” contest champion said: “I got it going early on and I stayed aggressive, I enjoy those moments in the game when I’m just going after people. I wanted to be in attack mode.”
“I know it’s a team effort, but I feel like I’ve got to do what I can to make sure we get some wins. We’ve got 22 or 23 games left and we need to win as many as possible.
”I think any hooper enjoys those moments when you’re hot, you’re in attack mode, you’re feeling good, but it’s the stuff afterward that I struggle with, like when I walked off the court, was I supposed to be overly excited, or what?” he concluded.
Former Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers player and now head coach of the Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups, spoke highly of his superstar guard, calling his performance “a piece of art.”
“It was a masterful performance – a piece of art,” he said.
“We don’t get the chance to experience things like this a lot, and I’ve been around the league a long, long time – 71 points, that’s just incredible.
“Having 41 points at half-time was insane, and then he came out in the second half and in the third quarter he just made every right play,” the Blazers’ cosch added.
Lillard, who exited the game with 44 seconds left to chants of “MVP” from the home crowd, was soon required to undergo a drug test, a testament to his subhuman performance.
The 32-year-old described his fear of needles when being drug tested for the first time.
He said: ”I know I’ve got a lot of tattoos, but when you’re doing a blood draw, it’s different from tattoos. It brought me down from here [pointing upwards] to the floor.”
His performance was other-worldly, recording 41 points and eight 3-pointers by halftime, a career high in a half for Lillard and the most points in a half for any player in the league this season. By the start of the fourth quarter, he had 50 points. He ended the game with 22 of 38 shots made from the floor, and he scored 13 of his 22 3-point attempts, while also shooting 14 of 14 from the free throw line.
The Trail Blazers are 11th in the Western Conference, just outside the play-in spots, with a record of 29 wins and 31 losses this season.
Lillard averages 32.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game while shooting 47.2% from the field and 38.1% from beyond the arc.
