The Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder were neck-on-neck for most of Game 4 Sunday night. Until the third quarter that is, when Damian Lillard uncorked three straight triples that blew the game open and in favor of the visiting team. The 6-foot-3 assassin was so unconscious that he hurled one just after the halfcourt logo while navigating a pick set by center Enes Kanter.
“Dame Time” is normally the fourth quarter but in the last two games, Lillard got it going a quarter early. And while his playoff single-period career-high of 25 ended in defeat, the 15 points he churned out on Sunday night was a crucial factor in their decisive 111-98 victory over the Thunder. The 28-year-old finished with 24 points (on 7-19 shooting and 4-8 from distance) and eight assists. His backcourt mate, C.J. McCollum ended with a team-high 27 points that helped stave off a late-rally by OKC.
Nonetheless, the win gave the third-seeded Blazers a commanding 3-1 lead heading back to the Moda Center with a chance to wrap things up and secure their first playoff series win in three years. It's not a good look for their opponents which have been mocking Lillard all throughout (specifically from backup guard Dennis Schroder) but he got the last laugh this time around.
It's also astounding that they have been so successful despite the absence of starting center Jusuf Nurkic due to injury and to which many have counted them out as a result. But Lillard is proving time and again that as long as he's around, they're not out of it.
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