Tikteknu: today's sports summary clip, 26.2 (Sport1)
Damian Lillard set a club record and a personal career record this morning (Monday) when he scored 71 points and 13 three-pointers, and helped Portland recover from two losses and beat Houston 114:131.
Lillard became the eighth player to score 70 points in NBA history.
At 32, he is the oldest player in NBA history with a 70-point game, and the only player 30 or older to accomplish such a feat.
"It was really, really an artist's performance," Portland coach Chauncey Billups said, "it was a work of art, just amazing. I've never seen anything like it. They tried to find some solutions, pressured him, put double guard on him, but On a night like that they had nothing to do. I'm glad I wasn't on the other side of a show like that."
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Lillard tied Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell for the season-high for points after Mitchell also scored 71 in his team's Jan. 2 win over Chicago.
Lillard broke his career high of 61 points, a feat he did twice, when he buried a 3-pointer with 4:42 minutes left - and along the way he also broke his career high of 11 three-pointers.
Lillard's 13 threes are one shy of the NBA record set by Golden State's Klay Thompson in 2018.
Thompson's teammate Steph Curry (2016) and Zach LaVine (2019) from Chicago also previously scored 13 three-pointers in a game.
Everything goes in.
Lillard in a great evening (Photo: GettyImages, Alika Jenner)
His coach is glad he's not on the other side.
Lillard and friends rejoice (Photo: GettyImages, Alika Jenner)
"I think every basketball player enjoys those moments, when you're hot, you're all in attack mode, you feel good," Lillard said.
"But these are the things that I struggle with afterwards, because when I left the field, was I supposed to be overly excited, or what?".
Lillard said he was drug tested by the league shortly after the game — which kind of ruined the moment because Lillard is afraid of needles.
"I know I have a lot of tattoos, but when you do a blood test, it's different than tattoos. It brought me down from here to the floor," Lillard said as he put his hand over his head and then dropped it.
In the last minutes, the audience in the hall was already aware of the historic achievement, and the thousands stood on their feet, took pictures with their phones to record the moment, and shouted "MVP".
Lillard finished the game 13 of 22 from three, 22 of 38 from the field and 14 of 14 from the free throw line.
He also added 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Lillard finished the game with 44 seconds left, tied with Mitchell, Algin Baylor (1960) and David Robinson (1994) for eighth on the single-game scoring list.
In first place, of course, is Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 100 points in a Philadelphia uniform against New York on March 2, 1962.
Lillard had 41 points and eight three-pointers by halftime.
It was a career high in a half for Lillard and the most points in a half for any player in the league this season.
He had 50 early in the fourth quarter.
It was also Lillard's fifth career 60-point game, and tied for third most in NBA history;
Only Chamberlain (32) and Kobe Bryant (6) have more games with 60 or more.
Lillard has 15 games with 50 or more points, which ranks him 6th on that list in NBA history.
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Of course, throughout the league they knew how to express their appreciation.
Donovan Mitchell tweeted that "my mom called and told me that Lillard tied my record, and now I have to shoot 72" and added smiley emojis.
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