Damian Lillard was simply a man on a mission on Sunday night. Against the lowly Houston Rockets, Lillard showed the world why he's not just one of the greatest point guards today, but also of all time. In just 39 minutes of action, Lillard dropped a career-high 71 points on 80 percent true shooting that's difficult to believe without seeing. In fact, even the NBA had difficulties fathoming how someone could play as well as the Blazers star did.
Per Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report, Damian Lillard entered the locker room following his career night with a band-aid on his arm after the league drew blood on him for a drug test. The Blazers star then revealed how surprised he was that the league tested him, especially after he had already undergone the urine test the day prior.
“I mean, honestly, I was like, ‘are y'all serious?' I did the urine test yesterday and they backed it up with the blood draw tonight after the game. That was actually the first time in my career being tested after a game. Aside from that, they know that I'm scared of needles. I know I got a lot of tattoos but when you're doing a blood draw, it's different from tattoos,” Lillard said. “It brought me down from here [up high] to the floor.”
It's unclear what the NBA's standards are for deciding when to drug test a certain player. Damian Lillard's shooting night was incredible, but it's not like he played at a level vastly different from his usual performances. It just so happened that Lillard was facing the team with the second-worst defensive rating in the league in the Rockets, torching the likes of Jae'Sean Tate, Josh Christopher, and Daishen Nix all night long.
Basically, the stars aligned for a Lillard masterclass, and indeed, it was a Lillard masterclass that the entire basketball world got – without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.