On Tuesday night, the Portland Path Blazers noticed their 24-point third-quarter lead flipped into a 5-point deficit with appropriate over four minutes to play. Right here’s what the NBA defines as take hold of time — a game within 5 points with under 5 minutes left. They ought to appropriate rename it, officially, Dame Time.
Over the next three minutes, Lillard, all over again, pulled the Blazers off the ropes forward of turning in a hail of haymakers to the tune of six 3-pointers — four of his have while collapsing the protection and discovering Gary Trent Jr. and Robert Covington for 2 extra as Portland defeated the Mumble 115-104 for its fifth straight prefer. This step-aid over Lu Dort, which effectively sealed the game, was once flat out humorous.
Lillard did the identical component to Dallas on Sunday, scoring seven points over a one-minute stretch to snatch a victory from the Mavs, who had erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter. This step-aid proved to be the game-winner with 32 seconds last.
These sequences encourage as a microcosm for the sizzling dispute of the Blazers: Struggling to dwell afloat, rescued by Lillard, who is aid to his superhero techniques in holding Portland in the thick of the Western Convention playoff image despite accidents to CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic.
After Tuesday’s prefer, Portland sits as the West’s No. 4 seed at 17-10 (that will most certainly be appropriate adequate for the No. 2 seed in the East, nonetheless that’s one other gripe for one other day). It feels love a minor miracle interested by the Blazers are a defensive doormat and McCollum and Nurkic have blended to fail to see 29 games. It feels love a four-game losing traipse is perpetually lurking across the corner.
Nonetheless Lillard appropriate would possibly perchance presumably well well no longer let it happen. The Blazers feature on a razor-skinny margin with over half of of their games so far meeting the NBA’s “take hold of” criteria — again, this potential within 5 points with under 5 minutes to play. In those take hold of minutes, Lillard has now scored 74 total points, tops in the league, while shooting 60 p.c from the sphere, 56 p.c from 3 and 100 p.c (23-for-23) from the free-throw line. The Blazers, most importantly, have long gone 11-3 in those down-to-the-wire games with a plus-40 point differential.
Kyrie Irving no longer too prolonged ago whined that every body the percentages are stacked in opposition to the Nets. Certain, he in actual fact said that. A group with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden is apparently swimming upstream. If Kyrie wishes to know what swimming to lead clear of being sucked down the Western Convention whirlpool in actual fact appears to be like love, he ought to seem over at Lillard’s predicament. With McCollum and Nurkic out, Lillard’s 2d-perfect participant is Gary Trent Jr.
At the same time as it is possible you’ll presumably well well presumably must mark Lillard’s MVP case, which is becoming very no longer likely to ignore, that will most certainly be a appropriate region to commence. The most effective participant in the MVP dialog for the time being who is taking part in with much less fresh abilities is Stephen Curry, and even he would possibly perchance presumably well have an even bigger high-to-bottom roster than Portland is taking part in with appropriate now.
Nikola Jokic is at or method the tip of everybody’s MVP list, despite the truth that Lillard ranks higher in ESPN’s Proper Plus-Minus, and even as the Nuggets, with a much higher roster than Portland’s for the time being, are in actual fact two games worse than the Blazers after falling to the Celtics Tuesday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks, a loaded roster, furthermore have a worse document than the Blazers. Joel Embiid has Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris and the Sixers are serene appropriate a half of game up on Portland. LeBron James has, smartly, the Lakers.
It appropriate can’t be overstated that Lillard is doing this with out McCollum, whose absence has been particularly felt. He was once having a profession 365 days, and with him alongside Lillard, the Blazers had been a alarm down the stretch of games with two of the applicable self-increasing closers on this planet in the identical backcourt — No. 5 in each fourth-quarter scoring and point differential. With Lillard going it on my own, those ranks, entering Tuesday, had fallen to No. 24 and No. 29, respectively.
That’s a statistical method of asserting the Blazers are making a behavior of both letting mountainous third-quarter leads evaporate, as they did in OKC, or digging mountainous fourth-quarter holes. Nonetheless so far, Lillard has been there to drag them out. Per ESPN Stats and Data, that 3-pointer Lillard hit in opposition to Dallas was once his 33rd profession coast-forward bucket with under a minute to play, which is the most in the league since he arrived in 2012-13.
There was once a Lillard load-management dialog happening within Blazers circles. In essence, the argument for no longer pushing Lillard too laborious is the Blazers’ season looked on the verge of death when McCollum and Nurkic went down. Nonetheless Lillard has kept it alive, 8-5 since McCollum went down and 7-2 over their final 9.
You can not sit Lillard now. Over 27 games entering Tuesday, the Blazers have outscored their opponents 3,117 to three,099. Cease the arithmetic, and that’s an 18-point differential, or about 0.66 points per game. That’s one bucket. One free throw. Portland’s margin for error is form of nonexistent, and Lillard scores those game-swinging points at a level few gamers, if any participant, can match.
Folk will bid Lillard burned out in the playoffs final season, and that if Terry Stotts would not desire that to happen again this season, he’d higher say forward. For starters, I’m no longer obvious Lillard fully burned out. He took the Lakers out in Game 1. The Lakers had been appropriate too noteworthy in the cease.
Nonetheless if he did burn out some, I’d extra attribute that to the two-week-Michael Johnson-200-meter flee he needed to pass on appropriate to bag Portland into the play-in series vs. Memphis. If the Blazers can merit profitable at a first charge charge except McCollum and Nurkic return, they would possibly perchance presumably well objective bag themselves with adequate cushion to no longer must crimson-line Lillard down the stretch while ending up with a extra winnable first-round series.
From there, you carry your possibilities. And with a healthy Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic, and a protection with the personnel to presumably play above its statistical profile relying on the playoff matchup, they’re no longer the worst possibilities on this planet.
