NBA Check-in: Damian Lillard sticks it to W’s
It’s time to talk a little NBA hoops, and this morning, I’m borrowing a hackneyed football phrase and extrapolating the part about “Sunday” to “night.”
As in, on any given night, a team can hand it to another team, even if they’re 48-4 and riding an 11-game winning streak. Hey, it happened to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (whose 33-game winning streak ended with a 16-point defeat) and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (who registered a 32-point defeat at New York during their 72-win campaign), so why couldn’t it happen to the glorious 2015-16 Golden State Warriors?
Well, it did.
🙈 NSFW 🙈 https://t.co/NhmrujvobU
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 20, 2016
The Portland Trail Blazers’ dismantled the Golden State Warriors by 32 points in the Pacific Northwest last night, 137-105.
Damian Lillard of the Blazers stuck it to the defending NBA champions, dropping an NBA career-high 51 points to nearly outscore the amazing Stephen Curry (31) & Klay Thompson (23) duo all by himself.
Yes, folks, the Dubs are human. However, expect Golden State to regroup and rebound from the loss in tonight’s road game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors haven’t lost two consecutive game since April of last year, and haven’t had a losing streak longer than two games since November 2013.
At the same time, Portland made it clear that they are a team to watch for the balance of the season. The Blazers have won four in a row, and nine of their last 10 games. At 28-27, they may have righted their ship back on course for a 50-plus win season, which would be their third in a row.
If you get a chance, take a look at the summary and highlights of Lillard’s performance last night, the man was scorching.