Getty Images Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are up 2-0 in their First Round Matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A huge reason for that success is because of their point guard, Damian Lillard.
Blazers’ Damian Lillard is a “professional scorer.” @TheJetOnTNT
If you’re tardy to the party:
CJ McCollum’s three-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer tied the game and erased what had been a 10-point Oklahoma City Thunder lead.
Damian Lillard’s three-pointer to beat the third quarter buzzer gave the Trail Blazers their largest lead to that point, a 16-point edge.
By the end of the fourth quarter, no Blazers buzzer-beater was needed.
Portland’s backcourt duo combined for 62 points, and the Blazers pulled away from the Thunder in the second half to win 114-94 Tuesday night at the Moda Center and take a 2-0 series lead in their first-round NBA Western Conference playoff series.
“Damian Lillard is a “professional scorer,” TNT’s Kenny Smith said after the win.
Lillard led all scorers with 30 point in Game 1.
In Game 2, McCollum led the Blazers with 33 points, while adding eight rebounds and five assists. Lillard added 29 points, six assists, three steals and two blocks.
The TNT crew are fans of the Blazers.
Charles Barkley believes that the Portland Trail Blazers are going to the NBA Finals.
“I tell you what, I’m all in on the Trail Blazers,” Barkley said Sunday after Portland’s 104-99 Game 1 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I like Portland. I thought before [Jusuf] Nurkic got hurt, they had a chance of winning the West. … I still think so.”
Barkley is also fond of Blazers forward, Enes Kanter.
“You hear all these guys … talk about Kanter, ‘He’s not a great defender,’” Barkley said. “There’s been really good players in the NBA who weren’t great defenders. That guy is going to get you a double-double every night. All these people talk about what guys can’t do, instead of what they can do.”
For those keeping score at home: Kanter had 20 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks in the Blazers’ Game 1 win.
Barkley and his Blazers Finals talk is nothing new!
Back in March, both Barkley and TNT co-analyst, Kenny Smith both agreed that the Trail Blazers will make their first appearance in the NBA Finals since 1992.
“I like Portland in the Finals,” Barkley told me last month.
“With [Damian] Lillard and [CJ] McCollum. The addition of Rodney Hood and Enes Kanter. I like them in the West.”
What say you, Kenny?
“Charles, he can say someting crazy all of the time,” Kenny Smith told me.
“I don’t normally say it. I’m just saying, not every day in a seven game series. I’m talking about just three games: shoot six for ten in between to combat guys shooting four for ten from three point range. They have it, they have it! So to me, that separates them when they’ve been so close every year to get over the hump, that they can get to the Western Conference Finals and they’re a clear and present agent for the Warriors because the Warriors have had trouble with those two guards even in that set. And even, until this year, Oklahoma had trouble with those two guards; until this year.”
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Blazers’ Damian Lillard Is a Professional Scorer Says TNT’s Kenny Smith