Another crazy game by Damian Lillard.
Last night Lillard scored. 71 points in his Portland Trail Blazers’ 114-131 win over the Houston Rockets, adding 6 rebounds and as many assists for an excellent 22/38 from the field with 13/22 from beyond the arc. A performance that allowed him to rewrite a number of records, starting with improving his career high which was 61 (twice).
First, he became the first player in NBA history to score at least 70 points playing less than 40 minutes and is the one who succeeded by shooting the fewest times from the line (14/14), also never before had anyone put up 70 with more than 10 triples on the board. Lillard, moreover, in the small club of authors of a “seventy” is the oldest player and the one with the highest true percentage.
Dame broke 5 records tonight:
– First 70pt game in under 40 mins
– Fewest FTAs in a 70pt game
– First 70pt game with 10+ threes
– Highest TS% in 70pt game
– Oldest with 70pt game pic.twitter.com/tL9T6R2r3r– StatMuse (@statmuse) February 27, 2023
For the first time in NBA history there have been two games of at least 70 points in the same season, following Donovan Mitchell’s a few weeks ago. Lillard climbed over the 60-point mark for the fifth time in the past five years, became the eighth ever to manage to finish at 70 and the third with more than five career games with more than 10 triples scored.
Lillard tonight:
– 71/6/6
– 8th player with a 70-point game
– 3rd player ever with 5+ games with 10+ threes
– Passes MJ in all-time 60-point gamesTop __ scorer all-time. pic.twitter.com/5fYm0eBgGM
– StatMuse (@statmuse) February 27, 2023
In NBA history only Lillard, Mitchell, Devin Booker and David Robinson have ever recorded a game with at least 70 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Dame joined Zach LaVine, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the club of players with at least 13 baskets from the arc on target in the same match.
Overall, it is Lillard’s moment of form that is extraordinary. In 2023 scored 880 points making a vacuum behind him in the scorer’s standings: the second, Jalen Brunson, is trailing by these 200 points (687). A February put together 40 average points per game with 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 50% from two, 42% from three and 96% at the line. Crazy numbers for a player who continues to rewrite NBA history and finally deserves a chance to compete for the title.
