The Portland Trail Blazers may have fallen short in the playoffs after a scintillating run to close off the regular season, but they are not without a rock solid foundation with Damian Lillard at the helm.

The All-Star point guard had the best regular season of his career to date, averaging 26.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. To top it all off, his individual brilliance was recognized by an All-NBA First Team nod, edging out traditional point guard elites such as Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook.

Perhaps the best attribute that took away the attention of voters is Lillard's effort in lifting the Blazers to a 49-33 mark which was good for third best in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. The Weber State product did so by carrying his team and being dependable in clutch situations.

As such, Lillard's knack for hitting shots when needed the most did not go unrecognized by his peers en route to winning the National Basketball Players Association's โ€œMr. Clutchโ€ award.

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Throughout the regular season during the final five minutes of games with a five-point difference or less, Lillard, shot the ball at a 44 percent clip from the field and a 36.4 accuracy rate from downtown. While these are not eye-popping numbers, they're still very solid and the parameters here are only one of many that are being used to define clutch moments.

However, do note that in 151 minutes (23rd in the NBA) under the clutch definition above, Lillard was able to score 127 points (10th in the NBA).

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Of course, plays such as these only contribute to the budding legend that is โ€œLillard Time.โ€