Damian Lillard put the team on his back and the Portland Trail Blazers managed to put away the Los Angeles Clippers 131-127 Monday night on the road.
Lillard erupted for 22 of his 39 points in an explosive third quarter, where the Blazers hung a season best 42 points on the Clippers and from there ran away with the victory.
Random thoughts and takeaways:
Starting point. If you watched the Toronto game, and saw the Blazer bench be a spark to an inspiring and energetic upset, this was about the opposite of that - Portland’s starters came out swinging, leading the Blazers to one of its best starts of the season - only to be squandered by the second unit and ultimately rescued by a superstar performance from Lillard.