When somebody scores 71 factors in an N.B.A. sport, that’s outstanding, in fact. Scoring 71 factors is difficult. Doing it towards skilled defenders is tougher nonetheless.
However there have been so many high-scoring video games within the league lately that Damian Lillard’s 71-point efficiency within the Portland Path Blazers’ 131-114 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night time wasn’t even the primary of its sort this season.
Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell additionally scored 71 factors in a sport on Jan. 2, the identical day Klay Thompson poured in 54 for Golden State. Luka Doncic has had video games of 60, 51 and 50 this season. In all, there have been 21 video games of fifty or extra factors this season.
“I feel any hooper enjoys these moments if you’re sizzling, you’re in assault mode, you’re feeling good,” Lillard instructed reporters after Sunday’s sport. “However it’s the stuff afterward that I wrestle with, like: After I walked off the court docket, was I presupposed to be overly excited, or what?”
He ought to be. Right here’s why.
Lillard is creating a behavior of huge video games. His 71 factors matched the season’s single-game excessive, set by Mitchell in January. However in contrast to Mitchell, Lillard already had put up a 60-point sport in January, giving him two of the 4 60-point video games within the league this season. (He additionally has a 50-point sport.)
That’s quite a lot of factors. Solely eight gamers have scored 70 factors in an N.B.A. sport. Seven of them are Kobe Bryant (81); David Thompson (73); Lillard, Mitchell, Elgin Baylor and David Robinson (71); and Devin Booker (70). The one participant to do it greater than as soon as was Wilt Chamberlain, who completed the 70-plus feat six occasions, topped by his legendary 100-point sport in 1962.
Lillard scored his 71 factors in solely 39 minutes and didn’t want time beyond regulation. Mitchell’s 71 got here in 50 minutes in an time beyond regulation sport. Doncic’s 60-point sport got here in time beyond regulation, too. In Lillard’s second huge sport this yr, he additionally stuffed it up rapidly, scoring 60 in 40 regulation minutes.
Lillard made 13 3-pointers on Sunday. That’s tied for the second most in a sport behind Thompson’s 14 for the Warriors in a 52-point sport in 2018. Lillard tried 22 3-point pictures on Sunday, tied for fourth-most single-game makes an attempt behind Thompson’s 24 and two 23-shot video games by James Harden. Lillard’s signature shot of the night time got here with 50 seconds left within the first half, when he casually crossed midway then stunningly fired up a 36-foot bomb that went in.
Lillard was 14 for 14 on his free throws. Of the gamers who tallied the 20 different 50-point video games this season, solely Jayson Tatum — in a 51-point sport for the Celtics — had as many free throws with out lacking one.
The sport was a part of an ongoing nice season. In a profession with seven All-Star picks, Lillard, 32, is perhaps having his finest season but. His scoring common of 32.3 factors is a profession excessive and is third within the N.B.A. behind Joel Embiid and Doncic. He additionally has profession highs in area aim proportion (.472) and free throw proportion (.919) and in a lot of the all-inclusive stats like participant effectivity ranking.
If there’s a draw back, it has been Lillard’s crew’s efficiency. The Blazers had a disastrous 2021-22, ending an eight-season playoff look streak, and are solely 29-31 after Sunday night time’s victory. Whereas the crew is healthier and scrapping for a play-in spot, it’s nonetheless a great distance from rivalry regardless of Lillard’s performances.
“I really feel like I’ve received to do my finest to be aggressive and simply to attempt to do what I can to get some wins,” Lillard stated after the sport, “and that’s all of the case was tonight. I needed to be in assault mode. I received it going, and I simply stayed aggressive.”
“Having 41 on the half was insane,” Path Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups stated of the efficiency.
By then, most of Lillard’s teammates realized their job was to remain out of his manner. Solely two different Blazers scored in double figures, and just one — Jerami Grant — hit double figures in pictures. Billups, a former N.B.A. scorer in his personal proper, stated he understood his different gamers’ reluctance.
“You are feeling responsible taking a shot,” he stated, “when you realize a man is having an evening.”