It certainly seemed like Damian Lillard had fully broken out of his early-season slump on Saturday night. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar dropped 39 points and seven assists in his team's hard-earned 118-111 win over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers, dominating from the opening tip.

Lillard scored 12 points and hit a pair of 3s in the first quarter, playing with palpable burst off the dribble and an overall sense of aggression that made continued success seem inevitable. He helped get Portland out to a commanding double-digit lead after halftime, but saved his best for last as Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris tried to will Philadelphia — still playing without Joel Embiid — to a comeback victory. Lillard had 13 points on just 3-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter, relentlessly attacking the rim en route to six made free throws.

Lillard admitted last week that at least a portion of his labors in 2021-22 could be attributed to changes in how the game is being officiated. They certainly didn't bother him on Saturday, though. Lillard went 14-of-14 at the free-throw line against Philadelphia, easy season highs in both makes and attempts. That nagging lower core injury will be a factor all season, but the vigor with which Lillard consistently creased the paint pointed to a player not too inhibited by pain or discomfort.

Lillard blocked three shots, too, his most in a game since January 2019. Even his ho-hum 5-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc is a major step in the right direction considering Lillard enter Saturday's action at 28.3% from beyond the arc. It's obvious: This was Lillard's best game of the season so far.

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After Portland's third straight victory, Lillard was asked about the state of his jumper a full month into the regular season.

“It was a slow start,” he said. “Just struggling shooting the ball. Just wasn't working for me.”

Like anyone watching the Blazers, though, Lillard has noticed a welcome shift in his shot of late. He's shooting 38.2% on nearly 10 3-point attempts per game since his O-fer from deep against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 5, the nadir of his slump. But just because his jumper has been falling at a typically proficient rate recently doesn't mean Lillard has quite found it altogether.

“Over the last two weeks or so, the last five or six games, I'm starting to feel better and better … at least as good as I could possibly feel,” Lillard said, referencing his abdomen injury. “I still don't feel completely in form, but I feel myself getting there.”

The Blazers are 5-1 in Lillard's last six games, all of which he has looked a lot like his All-NBA self. How much better would their overall performance be perceived if Lillard played in last weekend's hideous blowout loss to the depleted Denver Nuggets? All of a sudden, Portland is 9-8, among a morass of teams in the Western Conference fighting below its top three — pretty much exactly where most thought Billups' team would be this season.

Maybe the evolving, improving Blazers could emerge from that muck once Lillard really is “completely in form.”