In last night’s game against the Houston Rockets, Damian Lillard set a career high of 71 points with 13 three pointers on 22-28 shooting. From beyond the arc, he went 13-22, ending just one shy of the league record set by Golden State’s Kay Thompson a few years back. From the line, Lillard went a perfect 14 of 14, adding to what coach Chauncey Billups dubbed a “masterful performance”.
Dame is the second player to drop more than 70 this season, the other being Donavan Mitchell who matched his score of 71 against the Bulls at the start of January. Lillard however, is the oldest player ever to pass the 70 point mark in a single game. At 32 he’s also the only player in history to do so over the age of 30.
When asked to describe where his performance came from, Lillard expressed: “with 23 or 22 games left after this, we need to win as many as possible”, and that he was “in attack mode”. Watching his highlights back, “attack mode” is just about the best description possible.
Congrats to Dame on a career night, but when something of this caliber occurs in the NBA, fans everywhere are reminded of Wilt Chamberlain’s greatness. Just look at a few of these tweets and try to tell me this guy doesn’t belong on the Rushmore of all time NBA players: