Damian Lillard’s 50-Point Outing Willed The Blazers To A Comeback Win Over The Pelicans

With 5:56 left in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans, Eric Bledsoe hit a shot that put the Pels up, 117-100. It seemed like they were right on track to waltz to a win over a playoff foe in the Western Conference, and then, Damian Lillard happened.

A torrid 25-7 run to end the game, spurred on by Lillard scoring or assisting on 18 of those points, led the Blazers to a 125-124 win. The 50 points Lillard scored were a season-high, and it came on 13-for-20 shooting and an insane 18-for-18 clip from the free throw line. For good measure, Lillard pitched in team-best marks in assists (10) and rebounds (six).

There was very much a meltdown by New Orleans. With 7.2 seconds left and the team up by three, Brandon Ingram got sent to the charity strip for a pair of shots but ended up missing them both. After fouling Lillard on the ensuing possession, the Pelicans got the ball and immediately gave it back on a Nickeil Alexander-Walker turnover.

And then, a ridiculous end of game sequence occurred. Lillard drew a foul while shooting a jumper and, as previously noted, he hit them both. New Orleans was out of timeouts, but ran as reliable of a play as they could: Have Lonzo Ball throw a wild pass to Zion Williamson, who tries to muscle his way through someone and score. It almost worked thanks to Ball dropping a dime, but Robert Covington provided enough resistance to keep the shot from going in.

NBA players were enamored with how things played out, unsurprisingly.

In a pair of fun extra notes, Lillard moved into a tie with LeBron James for the seventh-most career 50-point games, while the Blazers joined elite company for their consistency at the free throw line.

The two teams will play one another on Wednesday in the second night of a back-to-back.