NBA
Portland’s Damian Lillard Dropped A Career-High 71 Points, Backed By A Franchise Record 13 Three-Pointers
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated27 Feb 2023
The Portland Trail Blazers took home a 131-114 win last night vs the Houston Rockets. With a 29-31 record the Blazers are eleventh in the West and are only two games back from sixth, proving how tightly packed that Conference is right now. Last night, Portland’s seven-time all-star Damian Lillard dropped a career-high 71 points vs Houston. He also broke a franchise-record with 13 three-pointers made.
With his 71 points, Lillard joins Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell as the only two players to ever have 70-point games in the same season. The best part is he only played 39 minutes and was unstoppable on a night where his team was shorthanded and they needed him the most.
At 32, he’s now the oldest player in league history with a 70-point game and Lillard broke a number of records last night in his epic performance. At eleventh in the West, Oregon Sports Betting sites have the Trail Blazers at (+30000) to win the Finals this season.
2nd-most 3PM in a game in NBA history (13)
8th player to score 70+ PTS in a single game (71)
The first player in NBA history with 70+ PTS, 5+ REB, 5+ AST and 10+ 3PM in a single game…What a night for Damian Lillard 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8MMHxePNUu
— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2023
Damian Lillard put on a show for the home crowd last night with 71 points and 13 three’s made
The Blazers veteran PG is third in the league this year, scoring (32.3) points per game and this is the second-time in his career averaging over 30 for the season. With his fifth career 60+ point game yesterday he’s now third in NBA history behind Kobe Bryant (6x) and Wilt Chamberlain (32x).
He also became the eighth player in league history to score 70+ points in a single game. Lillard broke his own franchise-record of 61 points that he’d hit two other times in his career. The 2012-13 ROY had 41 points at half-time and he carried that momentum into the second half.
"I had my mind made up that I was gonna keep attacking."
Damian Lillard breaks down what he saw on the court tonight as he dropped a career-high 71 PTS and 13 3PM. pic.twitter.com/DMHln75mCj
— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2023
Last night was also his 15th game with 50 or more points which is sixth most in league history. Speaking to the media after the game, Lillard had this to say.
“I think any hooper enjoys those moments when you’re hot, you’re in attack mode, you’re feeling good,”… “But it’s the stuff afterward that I struggle with, like when I walked off the court, was I supposed to be overly excited, or what?” – Damian Lillard
The seven-time all-star is extremely humble and wasn’t sure whether he should have been exited after the game. He was also drug testes shortly after the game as well and that’s pretty common after a player has a game like he did. Portland has 22 games left in the regular season.
