Damian Lillard's hands are hotter than the surface of a griller Sunday against the Houston Rockets at home. In just the first half of that game, the Portland Trail Blazers superstar point guard had already generated an unbelievable total of 41 points on the strength of a 13-for-19 shooting from the field, including a ridiculous 8-for-11 performance from behind the arc.
What Damian Lillard put together in the first two periods of the game was something that basketball fans had not seen in nearly two decades.
Damian Lillard in the first half against the Rockets 🔥
41 points
4 rebounds
13-of-19 FG
8-of-11 3PT
7-of-7 FT
First player with 40 points and 8 threes in a half since Kobe Bryant in 2003.
The Rockets make sense to be a team someone like Damian Lillard would light up this way. Houston is going nowhere this season and it started the day ranked just 25th in the NBA in scoring defense, allowing 118.1 points per game. It is also the worst in the league in terms of surrendering the most 3-pointers per game at 14.6.
Damian Lillard just won the 3-point contest in the recently concluded All-Star Weekend, so he is still definitely feeling it, and the Rockets are merely a backdrop to what his pair of hot hands are capable of doing when faced with a defense that has more holes than Swiss cheese.
Prior to the game against the Rockets, Damian Lillard was averaging 31.4 points per game on 46.7 percent shooting from the field and 37.2 percent from behind the arc.