The Miami Heat were closing in on the Portland Trail Blazers after being down by 19 points earlier in the game. But everyone knew that the fourth quarter belonged to Damian Lillard. It was Dame Time again and everyone knew it.
After an 18-2 run that brought the Heat to within three points 93-90, Lillard nailed two three-pointers and the Blazers were out of danger from there. He finished the game with 32 points, five rebounds and 10 assists.
Portland is on a double-digit win streak with their 10th consecutive win. After the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans lost to their respective opponents last week, the Blazers now own the league’s current longest winning streak.
And Lillard is steering the ship that has brought his team to the third seed in the Western Conference. The Blazers point guard has been shooting the lights out since February, scoring at least 32 points seven times, 40 or more twice, and 50 points once.
In ESPN’s NBA Power Rankings, the Blazers moved up to the number four spot just behind the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors.
Consider their game versus the Los Angeles Lakers when they had a six-point deficit as the game was winding down to the final minutes. Lillard would not let his team lose, draining four straight three-pointers down the stretch en route to a 39-point night and a 108-103 win.
DAME. TOOK. OVER. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4yg78nS5VB
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 6, 2018
His teammate Shabazz Napier knew it was coming, according to The Ringer’s Haley O'Shaughnessy.
“‘I just saw it in his eyes,’” he told reporters.
The rest of us saw it in his stroke. The Weber State alum cashed in on four straight 3s and 15 unanswered points in a span of three minutes. He needed less time to batter the Lakers into a loss than you would need to hear any song in full off his debut album. Nineteen of Lillard’s 39 points came in the final frame.
Since the All-Star break, he has scored the most fourth-quarter points of anyone—guard or otherwise—in the league.”
Lillard also presided over the Blazers’ two wins versus the Warriors in less than a month.
On Valentine’s Day, Durant was red hot, scoring 50 points to lead his team as his co-stars, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, were struggling with their shots. Despite Durant’s magical performance, Lillard had a special night as well, dropping 44 points on the Dubs and winning the game 123-117. C.J. McCollum delivered 29 points to give them the one-two punch they needed to take this game.
The rematch came on March 9th with Durant proving to be unstoppable again as he scored 40 with Thompson dropping 25 of his own. But the Blazers would not be denied as Lillard and McCollum scored 28 and 30 points, respectively. Eight Blazers were in double figures for Rip City in the 125-108 victory.
“I said after I won Rookie of the Year, I said I think I can be MVP in this league,” Lillard said earlier. “Being in the discussion, it's an honor to be mentioned, but I don't look at that and think `Oh they mentioned me in the MVP discussion.' I feel that's the level of player I can be.”
Despite a late-surge, Lillard is much too far off from the MVP race to actually win it. However, he may have to settle for Most Valuable Point Guard if there ever was an award. In a league with so many superstar playmakers such as Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Chris Paul, Lillard may be the most important one for his team. Remove any of them from their teams and they could still be in the playoff hunt. Take Lillard away from the Blazers and they’re at the bottom of the league’s standings.
That’s not a knock on the rest of the team. That’s just how good Lillard is.
Jusuf Nurkic, the team’s young center has also been playing well during the streak. He’s averaging a double-double this March with 14.8 points and 10.7 rebounds a night and shooting 56.5% from the field. His consistency is key to the Blazers closing out the regular season on a high note.
Ben Golliver and Andrew Sharp of SI.com answered a question from a fan regarding the Blazers and their chances out West as well as how good Lillard is.
“Portland is projected at 49 wins right now and the Warriors and the Rockets projection is basically 15 more wins,” said Golliver. “Both of those teams are projected to win 64 or plus. That's a huge gap and that's the kind of thing where you realize if your team did survive this dogfight and make it to the Western Conference finals or the second round and face one of those teams, you are going in there hoping to make it a five or six game series.
…[Lillard] is peaking at the right time. He has done this previously but it is also another lesson I think in terms of the recency effect because a lot of these teams have not just been able to maintain that high level of play like the Blazers are currently playing over the course of the entire season.”
As for Sharp, he revealed that Lillard should be receiving more attention if he was elsewhere.
“…this is something you elitists from the Western Conference allege fairly often that there is an east coast bias. I really do think east coast bias is real when it comes to Damian Lillard because if he were having the last couple weeks he had in Boston, or New York or any major market in the east coast people would be losing their mind. There have been a couple games where he has gone nuts down the stretch and it's been so awesome. It's not nearly big of a story that it should be.”
No matter. As long as Lillard and the Blazers keep on winning, the national media and the world’s attention will be on them.
The MVP may not be within Lillard’s grasp this year, but he can build off of this type of play for next season.
For now, the Blazers need to carry this momentum all the way to this year’s playoffs where they could be one of the higher seeds in the West for the first time in years. If they advance to the second-round of the playoffs, you can be sure that the Blazers will not back down from either the Rockets or the Warriors.
Dame Time is winning time in the playoffs, too.
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