J-Speaks: "Lillard Time" in Portland

Four days ago, Portland Trail Blazers starting lead guard Damian Lillard had rare tough performance with just 16 points going 5 for 20 from the field, including 2 for 7 from three-point range in his team’s 106-87 loss at the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, their second loss in their last three games. In the rematch at the Moda Center in Portland, OR on Saturday night, Lillard a breakout first quarter and that was just the start of his record-breaking night.

The 2012 Rookie of the Year scored 26 points in the first period on his way to a new career-high and new team record of 59 points in helping to lead the Trail Blazers (40-40) to a 101-86 versus the Jazz (49-31).

Lillard after going scoreless in the second period missing both of his field goal attempts scored 19 points in the third quarter on 6 for 12 shooting and had 14 points in the final stanza, which has become known as, “Lillard Time.”

Overall, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 draft out of Weber State finished 18 for 34 from the field, which included a 9 for 14 effort from three-point range and 14 for 16 from the free throw line with six rebounds and five assists. The nine three-pointers equaled a team record, which Lillard equaled when he went 9 for 12, scoring 49 points in leading the Trail Blazers to a 115-104 victory at the Miami Heat on Mar. 19.  

The 26 points Lillard had in the opening period, tied his own franchise record for most points in a quarter, that he set back in 2014. On top of that, Lillard did not have a single turnover, and the Trail Blazers as a team had just three miscues on the night.

Lillard was on the verge of scoring over 60 points, but he missed two of three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt with 23.1 seconds left in the game. He jokingly blamed forward Noah Vonleh, who had two points, nine boards and three block shots on the evening, for being one point off when he mentioned his total in the closing moments of the contest.

“When I missed the second one and every was like ‘Ohhh,’ I was like, ‘What happened?’ Then I made the last one and looked up and I had 59,” Lillard said after the game, shaking his head during that moment. “And I was like-it’s Noah’s fault.

Lillard surpassed the previous scoring mark of 54 points of former Trail Blazers’ lead guard and Oregon native Damon Stoudamire, that he had on Jan. 14, 2005 at New Orleans with a step-back triple with 1:49 remaining in the game.

Lillard also surpassed on Saturday night the 52-point effort by Andre Miller back in 2010. The 52-point effort by former Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy. Lillard also scored 51 points on two occasions as well as former Trail Blazer Geoff Petrie.

That three-pointer brought the audience of 19,441 in the Moda Center to their feet and the chanted M.V.P., which Lillard was very appreciative to hear.

“It felt great. Everything we’ve been through this year. It’s been ups and down and it’s been tough and their support has been consistent. So, I was happy to hear that,” Lillard said to KGW’s Brooke Olzendam in a postgame interview.

“We in front of the best crowd and we got to get it done. I just made sure that I got it done.”

To put into clearer context on the historic night Lillard had, the 18 field goals he made were more than the rest of the Trail Blazers starters combined, who totaled 14 connections from the floor. Starting forward Maurice Harkless was the only other Trail Blazer to score in double-figures with 12. Lillard’s starting backcourt mate C.J. McCollum, who is averaging a career-high of 23.0 points per game scored just nine points and went just 4 for 20 from the field.

The only time that Lillard was cooled off on the night was before the previously mentioned postgame interview when Harkless and a couple other teammates poured water on him.

“I realized what time it was for our team,” Lillard said to Olzendam about the importance of the game that kept the Trail Blazers a game ahead of the Denver Nuggets for the No. 8 and final Western Conference Playoff spot.

“We need two more wins and we worked too hard. We come too far. We was down 11 games and we worked really hard together to get to this point and now we had three games left and we have to win.”

The victory has put the Trail Blazers into a position where if they garner one more win or one more loss by the Nuggets will give the Trail Blazers the prior mentioned No. 8 spot in the West.

The Trail Blazers have come a long way from as Lillard mentioned being 11 games under .500 at 24-35, after a 120-113 overtime loss at the Detroit Pistons back on Feb. 28.

Since then they have won 16 of their last 21 games, which includes a 14-6 mark since acquiring center Jusuf Nurkic from the Denver Nuggets. The Trail Blazers savior though has been on the shelf because of a non-displaced fibular fracture in his right leg that was discovered after an MRI two weeks back.

Nurkic will be re-evaluated soon and the team hopes to have him for their first-round playoff tilt against the defending Western Conference champions, the Golden State Warriors (66-14) this weekend.

After two tough defeats in their last three games, Damian Lillard as the leader and floor general of the Portland Trail Blazers took it upon himself to get his team back on track and he did it by having the best scoring individual night in franchise history and got his team one step closer to making the postseason for a second straight year. Something that was just a dream at the end of February.

“I just knew how important it was for us to get off to a great start and we did that,” he said to Olzendam. “We built up a lead and I was proud of how we was able to keep it. Usually we have a lull and ups and downs, but we held it down for the whole game tonight and that’s what we needed.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 3/19/17 6 p.m. contest Portland Trail Blazers versus Miami Heat on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Kevin Calabro, Lamar Hurd and Brooke Olzendam; 4/8/17 10 p.m. contest Utah Jazz versus Portland Trail Blazers on Root Sports Rocky Mountain with Craig Bolerjack, Matt Harpring and Kristen Kenney; 4/9/17 2 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State Farm with Kristen Ledlow, Stu Jackson and Mike Fratello; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/6606/damian-lillard; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3102530/jusuf-nurkic; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/por/portland-trail-blazers; www.espn.com/nba/game?gameid=400900572 and www.nba.com/games/20170408/UTAPOR#/matchup/recap/boxscore.