Another 60 from Lillard: “We could have defended him with three”

The current NBA is not getting so used to exaggerated scoring, both individually and collectively, that we are beginning to see what is not as normal. It may be easier now than a few years ago for a large part of the league to have a game in which they can score 30 or 40 points. But what cannot be normal, and should not be taken as such, is that someone reaches 60. And even less so if it is the fourth time that they have done so. So let’s say it clearly. What Damian Lillard did tonight against the Utah Jazz is not normal… even if it seemed so to him.

“I think every time you score 60 points it’s special, but in this game I feel like it was pretty simple. I think I played how I should play. I knew we needed to win so I went out with the mentality to attack and be aggressive, but it wasn’t like I had a hot hand. It wasn’t one of those games,” Lillard declared after the match. The point guard could even surpass his best scoring mark, 61, if he hits a last two shot with 29 seconds left. In any case, the match is historic in terms of statistics because he is the fifth player to achieve this feat at least four times. Wilt Chamberlain did it before him, of course, on 32 occasions, Kobe Bryant on 6 and James Harden and Michael Jordan also on 4. What no one had done and he is the first is that in 3 of those games the 60 points combine with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Specifically, Lillard finished against the Jazz 60+7+8, in addition to 3 steals and 9 triples. You can’t be normal.

More considering that many of his points came with double coverage from the Jazz defense. Utah coach Will Harvey was later asked if he could think of anything they could have done to slow down the opposing star. “I guess in theory we could have sent three defenses on him,” he would reply with grace. And it is that when someone like Lillard crosses your path on a day like this, the only thing you can do is laugh so as not to cry. The Blazers, who have played poorly and lost a lot in the month of January, have linked two consecutive victories that place them half a victory away from the last place in the play-in. Position occupied precisely by some Jazz that, although they continue to fight the matches, they tend to fall more frequently on the side of their rivals. With everything and with that they have sixth place in a game. That’s how crazy the West is.