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"Give me respect": Damian Lillard's transcendence and highs stunned the NBA

After a 61-point performance and approaching the playoffs, Lillard asks for appreciation and recalls his late cousin, players across the league praising. Yannis regrets losing his temper, but Milwaukee is confident: this is the best thing that could have happened. And also: the scenarios leading up to the playoff battle decision

• Damien Lillard
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Yannis Antocompo

Walla! sport

112 points in two games. This is Damien Lillard's amazing balance, right at the moment of truth of the season. Tonight (Tuesday through Wednesday) "Dime" was at its peak again, exploding again, leading Portland to a 131: 134 victory over Dallas that could turn out to be a fateful one: Thanks to it, the Blazers climbed to eighth place with a half-game advantage over Memphis, For Friday, they will advance to the domestic tournament against the top nine with only one win needed to advance to the playoffs and schedule a meeting with LeBron and the Lakers in the first round.

Lillard, who only sniped 51 points in the win over Philadelphia yesterday, managed to outdo himself. He scored 17 of his 32 attempts from the field, sniped nine three-pointers, added eight assists and five rebounds, and saved the big moment for the end, with a huge three-pointer from almost half a yard that set a 130-point tie with a minute and a half left.

After the game ended in victory, the camera was turned to Lillard who repeated enthusiastically several times: "Give me respect."

"It was a great game, and now it's up to us. The game against Brooklyn will be the most important game of our lives," Lillard said at the conclusion. "We need just one more win, focus on just one more game, and we'll do it. That's the most important thing."

More on Walla! NEWS

The turnaround is complete: the astonishing Lillard with 61 points, Portland in eighth place in the West

To the full article

Lillard's show once again reminded him of one line with historical actors who have won over his career more appreciation than him. Tonight's game was his third game of the season with 60 points or more - a number that only Wilt Chamberlain went through in one season (in fact, he had no less than 15 of those in the 1961/62 season).

It was the first time Lillard crossed the 50-point mark in two games in a row. In the United States they checked and found the following statistic: Lillard is the second lowest player in league history to score 50 or more in two games in a row, second only to Alan Iverson. In all, Lillard stands at 11 career games with 50 points or more, which is enough for eighth place at all times along with the same Alan Iverson.

"I'm happy to be in such good company. It's a great honor to be mentioned in the same breath with these actors. Today was the best timing to give a show," Lillard said.

Aside from many NBA players who were amazed at Lillard's ability, Portland also got excited. "No one wants this playoff more than Damien," Blazers coach Terry Stotes said. "He came to a goal-filled bubble, and now we have one more game left. His leadership speaks for itself. He is sweeping the whole team after him."

Lillard was moved when he spoke of the last three-pointer he scored from an impossible range, recalling his cousin Brandon Johnson who passed away in May. Johnson has been the personal chef of Lillard, CJ McCollum and several other Blazers players over the years.

"I think he was the one who made the ball come in. He looked at us from above and decided it would be inside," Lillard said. "He was a lot of things for me. He was a right hand man. Everything I needed, he did for me. Losing him it hurts, but I try to move on because I know that's what he wanted. He was happy to see how I deal with his death. ".

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Across the league Lillard is being praised

How much Portland wants the place in the playoffs could be learned from the sacrifice of CJ McCollum, who has played the last two games with a lower back injury. The injury affected McCollum tonight on the offensive side as he finished with just 8 points including 3 of 14 from the field - but in the moment of truth he is accurate with two crucial free throws four seconds to go. "He's a little injured," Lillard said, "but he's not using excuses and not looking for a way to escape. He's doing everything to stand by us now."

Either way, Portland will arrive on the closing night of the regular season with a back wind. Here are the full scenarios ahead of the fight for qualification for the internal tournament in which the identity of the eighth-place finisher for the playoffs will be decided. If the No. 8 team wins the No. 9 spot in the first game between the two, it will advance to the playoffs. If the ranked 9 wins, there will be a second and decisive game over the entire pot.

Portland

how it will rise from eighth place: wins or losses to Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio.

How she will rise from ninth place: her loss and a loss of two from Phoenix, San Antonio and Memphis.

Memphis

how it will rise from eighth place: a win over Milwaukee and a loss to Portland.

How she will rise from ninth place: her win, or losses to San Antonio and Phoenix.

Phoenix

how it will rise from eighth place: a win over Dallas, alongside losses to Memphis and Portland.

How Phoenix will finish in ninth place: a win alongside a loss to Memphis or Portland.

San Antonio

how it will rise from eighth place: a win over Utah alongside losses to Memphis, Phoenix and Portland.

How it will rise from ninth place: a win alongside losses of two from Phoenix, Portland or Memphis.

After hitting Moritz Wanger from Washington and being sent off, Yannis Antocompo apologizes. The incident occurred about eight minutes before the end of the second quarter, when an argument between the two heated up and the Greek freak hit the opponent's head intentionally on the way to the bench. The Bucks got along without him and won 113: 126, but Antocompo expressed remorse.

"It was a terrible reaction," Yannis admitted at the conclusion. "If I could go back in time, I would not do the same thing. But in the end we are all human and we all make mistakes. I think I did a great job this year, I kept my cool and focused solely on games, but I ended up making mistakes today. I will learn from that later. ".

Yannis claims that "I have nothing personal against Wagner. He's not the issue here. In my head, after all the games that opposing players beat me ... I just lost it for a second."

Milwaukee coach Mike Bodenholzer claimed that "a chain of events led to what happened," and backed his star. "It's nothing. Yannis has been dealing with it for a very long time. He's an MVP, and all kinds of players try to test his patience. He usually reacts in a phenomenal way. An experience teaches him, and he will remember it later when they try to take him out of focus. "