Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups used several superlatives to describe Damian Lillard’s career-high 71-point performance Sunday night against Houston.
Efficient. Poised. Incredible. They headed the list.
Encapsulated together, Billups thought Lillard’s 22-of-38 shooting performance rose to a level beyond the normal bounds of sports.
“I just thought it was a piece of art because he kept them off balance,” Billups said. “When they got overaggressive, he made them foul him. When they weren’t aggressive enough and they were scared of how quick he is to get to a basket, he got to the step-back. When they blitzed and trapped him, he hit the guy in the pocket and just kind of took it easy. It really, really was a masterful performance. It was a piece of art.”
Lillard led the Blazers to a 131-114 win by scoring just the 13th 70-point game in NBA history. His 71 points ranks tied for the eighth most ever. But it didn’t come about through over-shooting. Just like during his 60-point performance on Jan. 25, Lillard maximized his opportunities and let the action come to him. For that reason, he too likened his performance to a work of art.
“It has a different meaning to everybody,” he told reporters. “If a hundred people were to watch this game, they might have a hundred different feelings and reactions to it. And I think that speaks a lot into all of those things. Everything that goes into it. The work. The low moments. The high moments. What’s happening with a team. A player having a moment. All of those things. It can mean so many different things to so many different people. And I think art is similar to that.”
Lillard scored 16 in the first quarter, then had 25 in the second to finish with a career-high 41 points in a half. It was early on that Billups said he sensed Lillard was going to be unstoppable.
“He stayed so aggressive the entire time and the ball just kept going and kept going,” Billups said. “And they started coming to the level and scored some and they were fouling him. And I said, ‘Dame, this could one of those special nights.’ I didn’t know this special. That was just incredible.”
In the third quarter, Lillard was limited to nine points, mainly because Houston committed to getting the ball out of his hands.
“I was super aggressive the whole first half and then towards the end of the second quarter, they started to play different types of defenses, but I had my mind made up that I was going to keep attacking them, regardless,” Lillard said. “I had it going. And then the third quarter, they just sold out. I was bringing the ball up, I think the first possession, and I wasn’t even to halfcourt yet and they just ran a guy on me. And I think when a team presents that type of defense, you got to just accept it and embrace it, and that’s where you got to depend on your teammates to take them out of that.”
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, left, dunks against Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr., right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) APAP
They did. The rest of the Blazers shot 6 of 10 in the quarter and the Rockets eased up on Lillard.
“I wasn’t like, I’m going to get 70 tonight,” Lillard said. “I was playing to keep the lead instead of playing to score a bunch of points, and they went back to their normal coverages.”
That’s when Lillard began attacking again. He scored 21 points in the fourth.
Lillard said the way he approaches the game and the work he puts in make performances like Sunday’s special for him and the team.
“I do the work. I do things the right way,” he said. “I make sure I put my time in. I go out there and do it for the right reasons. And I think because so many people have witnessed what happens before these performances happen, they appreciate this as that type of art. And that’s why it means so much to me.”
Lillard said during the game he is focused on the action. After the game, he is unsure of how to react.
“But it’s the stuff afterward that I struggle with,” he said. “Like when I walked off the court, I was like, am I supposed to be like overly excited or what? I just high-fived everybody.”
After the game, Lillard had his blood drawn for a random drug test a day after he underwent a urine analysis.
“I did the urine test yesterday and then they backed it up with the blood draw tonight after the game,” he said. “That was actually my first time in my career being tested after the game. And then aside from that, they know that I’m scared of needles. So, I know I got a lot of tattoos, but when you’re doing a blood draw it’s different than tattoos.”
Lillard said players receive four urine tests and two blood tests per season.
From here, the Blazers (29-31) need every win they can get in order to reach the postseason. Lillard recently told the team that the urgency must come now. On Sunday, he approached what was considered a very winnable game against a 13-47 Rockets team with an attitude of not taking anything for granted.
“He just did what great players and leaders do,” Billups said. “Dame is not a top 75 player for no reason. He’s still got a lot of years to play to be honored like that. Sometimes you have to poke your chest out and show it and not just talk about it. And that’s what he’s all about. So, he’s talked to you guys a lot about how important right now is to him. And the present time to him, and time and time again he comes out and he just proves it and shows us.”
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
