50 points on Cleveland, cruel defeat at the finish

He will have missed a watch and a bench, but the intention was there. Last night, Damian Lillard realigned himself with his standards by slamming 50 points in Cleveland. It fell like that, a bit out of nowhere, lost to the wind of a defeat dropped in the last three minutes of the game. We don’t care, we saw the arsonist again in his works. It’s for Portland that it sucks.

The pretty house boxscore is by ICI !

Boom, Top 10 All-Time in 50-point games. That makes you a good guy.

Almost killer than rescoring so much in a defeat. The fifth in a row. The Blazers were so close to the goal: to fully recover their franchise player and taste victory. With one stone there will have been only one blow. The least important from an accounting point of view, yet essential in people’s minds. It had been since June 2, 2021 that Damian Lillard had not crossed the bar of 50 units. Game 5 against Denver, first round of the Playoffs, the old ones remember. This is his 13th such performance in eleven seasons. We can only regret the lack of success of his teammates – not to say that they were weak – with Jusuf Nurkic too “nothing”, an Anfernee Simons behind, Josh Hart clumsy and, once again, substitutes insignificant. As a reminder, Portland has (and quite widely) the worst bench in the entire NBA with 23.8 points per game. Tonight ? Two units from Shaedon Sharpe, three from Drew Eubanks, four from Jabari Walker…spicy everything. A total of 3/9 in shooting in 65 minutes of play. So even when the No. 1 climbs to the top of the score sheet, it’s hard to hope for anything when playing five against ten.

Lots of credit to Darius Garland et Donovan Mitchell. Statistically, two good but not incredible performances: 26 points at 11/23 shooting for Dono, 20 units and 10 assists for Garland. In the game, the partners “woke up” at the best of times with three/four decisive actions in the last minutes of the meeting. Big shot from the parking lot of the old Jazz. Dared circle attack from the 5th choice of the 2019 Draft. Two different registers, two problems to identify for the opposing defense. Not necessarily a direct relationship between the two guards in the money timebut the impression that everyone knew what they had to do. Job is done, not the most scintillating of victories but Cleveland breathes. Damian Lillard leaves empty-handed. 50 points in the cadis. We don’t even know if he’s happy.