Houston — Damian Lillard didn’t become the all-time leading scorer in franchise history in Saturday night’s game against the Rockets in Houston, but while helping his team shake off one of the night before’s worst performances. We have passed many milestones.
After being blown away by the Mavericks on Friday night in Dallas, the Trail Blazers finished the “Texas Three-Step” Saturday night by beating the Rockets 107-95 in front of a crowd of 16,217 at the Toyota Center.
“I’m happy with the win. We lived up to it,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “Defensively, I thought we were really good all night, very competitive and pretty physical.”
The Trail Blazers are currently 17-13 overall, 10-7 away, and 2-1 on the halfway point of a 10-day, six-game road trip. Portland is 2-0 against Houston this season.
Lillard entered Saturday’s game with 17,995 points, just 46 points behind Clyde Drexler, the most points-scoring player in franchise history. But the second night of a back-to-back game in which Portland led by 22 points in the second half offered no strong opportunity for such numbers. To do.
“He’s not trying to do it just for the sake of it,” said Chauncey Billups. “Playing the right type of ball will get you going in the right direction. ”
But one milestone and two all-time Top 10 lists were in play Saturday night at Lillard. His 6-3 point guard in his 11th season at Weber State, he passed all three in 33 minutes of play.
First, with 4:32 left in the first quarter, Lillard completed a five-point-and-one layup to surpass 18,000 points, making him the second trailblazer, eighth active player and 77th player in NBA history. I was. He collects that number of points.
“It’s an honor to have achieved that level of success and score a lot of points, but the people who made it possible – my trainers – took the time to make me the player I am today. I have to thank the people, Lillard said: “My coaches, my first coaching staff: Terry Stotts, David Vantapool, Nate Tibbets, Dale Osborne, Jay Triano, Caleb Canales. , Jim Moran, I have to thank them all. and the coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to play through things like that, not many people get that opportunity from day one, and what I have in my career to get to this point. They don’t get the freedom they had.Kudos to this for being a possibility.
“And I have to thank God for allowing me to stay healthy for the better part of my career, and for keeping me clear and mentally clean.” Thanks to the many people I have to thank who helped me reach
Lillard then intercepted Bruno Fernando’s pass with 6:50 to play into the second quarter, scoring his second steal of the game and stealing Cliff Robinson’s pass for sixth with 697.
Lillard said:
Lillard’s last notable statistical moment came late in the fourth quarter. With his comfortable 20-point lead, Billups put him last on the bench with just over five minutes to play in regulation. But the Rockets shrunk Portland’s advantage to his 11 with just over two minutes remaining and Billups brought the starter back into the game.
“I know you’re young,” Billups said. “I sat there most games, but playing in the NBA is a luxury.” “We have to come in and play the right way. No. But I’ve seen that movie so many times before the team picked up steam and kept moving forward, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
On the first possession after the game resumed, Lillard hit his fourth 27-foot 3-point shot of the night to boost Portland’s lead to 14. 2,222.
“I had a lot of chances and shot a lot of threes,” Lillard said. Lillard currently has 60 3-pointers made, behind only Jason Terry, which ranks seventh all-time in 3-pointers. “I feel like I’m a really good shooter, so if I get the chance to shoot a lot, I should make a lot of them.
With 2,222 3-pointers in nearly half the number of games Crawford, Terry and 9th-ranked LeBron James needed to break into the top 10, Lillard wonders why he’s considered one of the top 10. I have had the opportunity to wonder if it will not be done. Despite his rankings, he’s the best shooter in league history. but pointed out that he’s no slouch either, despite what some of his detractors might claim.
“I see people talking about the greatest shooters of all time on social media all the time,” Lillard said. Considering how many threes I’ve made, how consistently I make threes, and how difficult it is to shoot threes over the years and years and years that people think I’ve made in them. I think it’s kind of crazy not to mention the .debate.
“Obviously, I think Steph is the best ever, but when I think about what’s after him, it’s not just about making it, but about how you shoot it, how you make it tough, and why I’m clear in that discussion. I don’t know if it’s not’ time, how easy it is to shoot the ball. I’m looking forward to continuing to climb that list, so I’m curious to see what people say about me as a shooter at that point once I’m in the top two, top three. ”
That discussion as his quest for Drexler’s past will have to wait for another night. .
“We had to make some adjustments, but we did what we had to do to tighten up to win the game,” Lillard said. “We were able to create some separation on defense and another good win.”
Looking to carve his name into several franchise top 10 lists, Anphanie Simmons led all scorers with 32 points on 11 of 21 shots from the field. Jusuf Nurkic in his 27 minutes he tallied 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block. Josh Hart recorded a double-double to join Lillard, but he had 12 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Having faced all three Texas teams in the past four days, the Trail Blazers will head to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder back-to-back.First appointment is Monday at 5pm
