Chauncey Billups has been around the block in the NBA. He's spent two decades in the league both as a player and coach, but he's never seen anything like what Damian Lillard did on Sunday night. The Portland Trail Blazers point guard etched his name in the history books with his 71-point torching of the Houston Rockets.
The Blazers head coach spoke out after the game on being made witness to one of the most prolific scoring performances the league has ever seen.
“No, I've never seen it. I've never seen a performance,” said the Blazers coach.
“A night like tonight, there's really not much you can do. … I don't want to be on the other side of that. I've been in games this year, not even with them type of performances, and I've tried everything that we have defensively. I don't want to be on the other side of that, but it was fun being on this side.”
"I've never seen a performance like that before…a night like tonight, there's really not there much you can do. I don't want to be on the other side of that."
Chauncey Billups on Damian Lillard's 71-point performance đź—Łpic.twitter.com/0fqmL8V8zI
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 27, 2023
Billups himself had never breached the 40-point mark throughout his 17-year NBA career. He was known for his clutch prowess just as Damian Lillard is now, but was also known as a hard-nosed defender on a historically tough Detroit Pistons squad.
Even his Finals-winning squad would have had a hard time trying to contain Lillard if he was as scorching-hot as he was against the Rockets. The Blazers star reached 71 points thanks to 13 three-pointers and a scintillating 22-of-38 scoring clip that becomes more impressive given how hard Houston was trying to sell out to deny him the ball as the game went on.
With unlimited range and every offensive trick in his bag, Damian Lillard remains one of the NBA's most potent scorers – and one Chauncey Billups is glad he gets to coach.
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