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Damian Lillard goes off, scores 17 points in 3 minutes to beat OKC

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer

It hasn't been the easiest season for the Portland Trail Blazers, who have gone from dark-horse title contention in a brutal West to fighting on the fringes of the playoff race in a watered-down conference after losing four-fifths of their starting lineup in free agency this offseason. Yet as the Blazers scuffle through the early stages of their rebuild, and as they licked their wounds after a blowout loss at the hands of the defending champion Golden State Warriors, All-Star point guard Damian Lillard — who signed a five-year, $120-plus million maximum-salary contract extension this summer to be the linchpin of the next era of Blazers basketball — committed himself to sticking it out through the tough times, saying he plans to spend the rest of his career in Portland and that he looks forward to "what it will be like when we get through this."

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While he waits for that "ultimate satisfaction," though, Lillard also thought it might be nice to give Blazers fans something to go nuts about in the here and now. Like, for example, a flamethrowing finish to Sunday's showdown with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder that reminded everybody watching that, when it comes to getting hot in a hurry, Portland's point guard doesn't take a backseat to too many NBA players:

With Portland trailing by eight after a buzzer-beating triple by guard Andre Roberson late in the fourth quarter, Lillard lit Oklahoma City up, drilling five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points in three minutes and seven seconds to lead a game-closing 20-7 run that sent the Blazers surging past the Thunder to a 115-110 win that had the Moda Center rocking.

Lillard scored 28 of his 31 points after halftime, saving his best ball for the moments his Blazers needed him most to outduel Durant (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Westbrook (25 points, 15 assists, nine rebounds, three steals) in the win, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Off screens or off the bounce, Dame was off the chain, locking into a shot-making rhythm that left Billy Donovan's club stunned and done.

“The first one I hit, the big was a little bit back, our big set a big screen and I didn’t feel Russ (Westbrook) at all, so I raised up and I hit that one,” Lillard said after the game, according to Erik Gunderson of The Columbian. “There’s not a lot of time left in the game. I’m not going to be the guy to shy away from it. I’d rather be the one to miss those shots than not try to be the one who takes this one over. I just got aggressive.”

That aggression, combined with a defensive tightening brought on by a tactical switch, helped turn the tide. From Mike Richman of The Oregonian:

"The biggest thing is what we did defensively," Lillard said. "We started to trap the pick and rolls. Kind of mixed it up with them a little bit and made them get rid of the ball." [...]

To turn the game in their favor late, the Blazers abandoned their typical conservative approach to pick and roll defense. Instead of having the big men hang back on pick and rolls, the Blazers had their bigs jump out above the pick and try to trap Durant and Westbrook on the perimeter.

This seems like a simple change, but Stotts has spent more than two seasons installing and teaching a defensive approach that discourages blitzing and trapping on the perimeter. However the Blazers knew they would be facing dynamic playmakers like Durant and Westbrook so of course they introduced the shift in pick and roll coverage in practice, right?

"No. We haven't," [Blazers guard C.J.] McCollum said when asked if the Blazers had gone over the adjusted approach in practice. "We worked on it in preseason. So three months ago, two months ago."

The change-up paid major dividends in the final minute, when a high trap led Durant to give up the ball to Thunder big man Serge Ibaka, whose slight hesitation before going up with the ball allowed Portland's Mason Plumlee to recover and block his shot from behind, maintaining the Blazers' two-possession lead and snuffing out any Thunder comeback bid:

The defensive work down the stretch allowed Lillard — as he has so many times during his three-plus seasons in Portland — to take the Blazers home to a victory.

"I got some good looks at the rim and let them fly," he said after the game, according to Malika Andrews of The Associated Press.

They flew, and they fell, and the Blazers finished in front, because the man of their present and future was able to once again show us all what time it was.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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