The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-115 yesterday to clinch the series in five games. The deciding game is up there for one of the greatest playoff games ever. It featured the craziest game winner in recent playoff history, as superstar Damian Lillard hit a cutch buzzer beater to send Portland to the second round.
The shot will go down as the greatest shot in Portland Trailblazers history. Before this one, it was Lillard's game winning buzzer beater against the Houston Rockets in 2014, the one that sent them to the second round for the first time since 2000. This one had much more of an impact. The last two years for Portland has been nothing but disappointment. In 2017, they were swept by the champion Warriors. The next year, they had a great regular season, and sat at the number three seed. Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis proceeded to sweep the socks off of them despite being a lower seed.
This disappointment was the engine of the Blazer's car this year. Portland came into this season with something to prove to this league: that they were a serious contender. Rather than go into a rebuild after the sweeps, Portland decided to trust what they had. It was working for the regular season, as Portland was in contention for a top seed in the West. Then, Jusuf Nurkic Portland's third best player, had a devastating injury similar to that of Gordon Hayward's. While many people labeled the Blazers season hopeless at that point, they never gave up.
After winning on the last might of the NBA season to bolt up to the third seed, Portland had a matchup with the Thunder. OKC was favorited to win the series as the lower seed, and Portland felt like the underdogs. Enter: Playoff Damian Lillard. In game one, Lillard hit numerous clutch shots to propel the Blazers to a five point victory. In game two, Dame once again came to play, and started a feud with Russell Westbrook during a 20 point blowout. The Thunder took game three, but Portland went up 3-1 after a 13 point win in game four.
This set the stage for game five, in Portland. A win, and Portland would go to the second round to play either the Nuggets or the Spurs. A loss, and the series would return to OKC with a chance at going to game seven. For the first 42 minutes, it looked like that was what would happen. The Thunder had built a 15 point lead halfway through the fourth, and were cruising. After Mo Harkless led a comeback to tie the game, the ball was in Lillard's hands to put away the game.
Some would say it was just lucky. The 37 foot fading, step back three over Paul George sure didn't look planned. Yet, the shot flew through the air and swished, giving Portland the win. Lillard had single handedly carried the Blazers to the victory with 50 points, but, he didn't celebrate like crazy. Instead, Dame gave the Thunder bench a quick wave, then was swarmed by his teammates. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to Dame Time.
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