Lillard erupts for 71 points to set Trail Blazers’ mark

Damian Lillard set franchise and career highs with 71 points — tied for the most in the NBA this season — and 13 three-pointers and the Portland Trail Blazers stopped a two-game skid with a 131-114 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.

Lillard tied Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell for the most points in a game this season after Mitchell also scored 71 in a win over Chicago on Jan. 2.

“I enjoy those moments in the game when I’m just going after people,” Lillard said, “when I’m in attack mode.”

Lillard broke his own franchise mark of 61 points, which he’d done twice, on a three-pointer with 4:42 left that also topped his career record for threes in a game with 11. Lillard’s 13 threes were one shy of the NBA record set by Golden State’s Klay Thompson in 2018.

Lillard left the game with 44 seconds left, tied with Mitchell, Elgin Baylor (1960) and David Robinson (1994) for the eighth-most points scored in a game in NBA history.

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