Come playoff time, no Western Conference club will be safe in the first round—not even the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Not if Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers have something to say about it, anyway.
Rip City’s rampage took another step forward on Tuesday with a 112-104 win over the Brooklyn Nets at the Moda Center.
The Blazers squandered what had been a 19-point lead amid a furious flurry from Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez (a game-high 36 points, 10 rebounds, four steals), Joe Johnson (19 points, eight rebounds, four assists) and Donald Sloan (14 points, five rebounds, four assists).
Once the Nets caught up, Lillard and C.J. McCollum took control. Portland’s promising backcourt combined for 24 of the team’s final 25 points on the way to scoring 34 apiece. Lillard would've had more than that had the referees not waived off his three-quarter-court heave in the waning moments.
No guard duo had done anything like that in more than three decades, accor ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Josh Martin