Lillard’s half-ton powers Portland
Miami, Aug. 10: Portland’s Damian Lillard poured in 51 points against a Philadelphia team missing injured stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, powering the Trail Blazers to a 124-121 victory in their NBA match on Sunday.
Lillard, taunted on social media after two key missed free throws in a Saturday loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, unleashed the 10th 50-point performance of his career and fifth of the season to pull Portland within a half-game of Memphis for eighth in the Western Conference playoff fight.
“This was different because our season was on the line. We drop this one and we don’t control our destiny. I thought we answered the call down the stretch,” Lillard said.
Lillard hit 16-of-28 shot from the floor, 4-of-12 from 3-point range, and 15-of-16 from the free throw line and dished out a gamehigh seven assists.
The Blazers (33-39) and Memphis (33-38) are trying to hold off San Antonio (3138) and Phoenix (31-39) for spots in next weekend’s play-in series for the last West playoff berth. Portland’s win eliminated New Orleans and Sacramento.
In another match, Cameroon playmaker Pascal Siakam scored a game-high 26 points to spark Toronto over Memphis 108-99, clinching the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the defending champion Raptors (50-19).
Memphis, led by 25 points from Dillon Brooks, missed a chance to clinch a play-in series berth. The Grizzlies are 1-5 in bubble games.
San Antonio, trying to reach the playoffs for a 23rd consecutive season, pulled within a game of Memphis by beating New Orleans 122-113. DeMar DeRozan scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to ignite the Spurs’ attack and subdue rivals.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points, five in the final minute of regulation time and five more in overtime, to spark the Boston Celtics over Orlando 122-119.