The Portland Trail Blazers move into the NBA Playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks in a thrilling 134-131 game. Damian Lillard, winning team’s point guard, lead the play and scored a career-high-equalling 61 points on Tuesday night. Their critical win lifted them into eight places in the Western Conference standings.
Damian Lillard became the first player in Portland franchise history to explode 50 and above points in consecutive games. This also made him the second player in NBA history to score 60 plus points in three games during a single season. He drew a strong offensive line on Trey Burke, point guard of Mavericks, with 4.5 seconds remaining and the Trail Blazers (34 wins and 39 defeats) leading 132-131. Lillard also assisted their center, Hassan Whiteside, on what proved to be the game-winning dunk in Portland’s victory over Dallas.
Portland Trail Blazers took the lead with 59.1 seconds left when Damian Lillard made his eight assist for two of Whiteside’s eight points. Also, Carmelo Anthony, the star forward, scored 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the floor and 3 of 5 from the outside of the three-point line. Lillard and Anthony combined for 12 of the team’s 15 made three-pointers.
The Trail Blazers will assure their spot in a play-in tournament for Western Conference’s eighth seed if they won against the Brooklyn Nets (7th in Eastern Conference) tomorrow at 9:00 am.
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