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After an electric back and forth affair between the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder, Damian Lillard drained a DEEP buzzer beater to send the Blazers on to the second round of the NBA playoffs. Dame had a monster night racking up 50 points as he willed the Blazers to victory over a very well-rounded attack from the Thunder.
At the end of the day, Lillard would simply prove too much for the Thunder’s duo of Russell Westbrook and Paul George. With time running out and the game tied, Lillard pulled up from WELL behind the three-point line and put the final nail in the coffin of the Thunder’s 2018-2019 season.
WATCH: Damian Lillard Drills Buzzer Beater To Clinch Series vs. Thunder
The shot would be the icing on the cake for a magical night from the Blazers oft-overlooked star player. Lost in the shuffle of his monster scoring and game-winning shot is the fact that Lillard was able to help out across the board. Pulling down six rebounds, dishing out seven assists, and poking free three steals, Lillard was a force in multiple areas of the game. A truly dominant performance for the ages, Lillard and the Blazers head into the second round of the playoffs with a ton of momentum.
Damian Lillard & Portland’s Playoff Outlook
After his epic game five dagger, Lillard and the Blazers match up with the winner of the Nuggets vs. Spurs series. While the Blazers didn’t fare particularly well against either opponent during the regular season, they should be riding high off a huge win and especially if San Antonio wins (giving them home-court advantage), their home crowd should be ROCKING in game one.
Should the Blazers run into the Spurs, defensive mastermind and playoff wizard Gregg Popovich should come up with a frustrating gameplan for the duo of Lillard and CJ McCullom. That said, the Blazers are a better team on paper and as Lillard proved tonight, when he’s hot there really isn’t anyone on the planet who can slow him down.
However, if the Blazers run into the Nuggets, they have a whole different world of matchup nightmares to worry about. With Nikola Jokic running the point-center role, the Nuggets thrive on taking advantage of his excellent passing by utilizing a number of athletic shooters that Jokic is able to find for either easy cuts or open threes. The Nuggets are a terrible matchup for nearly every team in the NBA and would be a very difficult task for this Blazers team. However, what looms after their round two matchup (most likely Golden State) should be an even tougher test.
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