Portland Trail Blazers: Top 3 performers in loss to Los Angeles Clippers

3. Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard didn’t have a particularly good performance against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, dropping in a season-low 13 points on an abysmal 3-of-16 shooting from the field (18.7 percent), 1-of-8 shooting from behind the arc (12.5 percent) and 6-of-9 from the free throw line (66.6 percent).

Therefore, it was great to see him bounce back in this game against the Los Angeles Clippers, finishing with 25 points, two rebounds and six assists on 7-of-19 shooting from the field (36.8 percent), 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc (44.4 percent) and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

After five games, Lillard is averaging 21.8 points, 5.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals on 37.9 percent shooting. While he hasn’t shot that well to start the 2017-18 NBA regular season, the entire league has noticed that Lillard has improved defensively.

Had it not been for the 3-pointer from Blake Griffin, Lillard drawing a charge from Austin Rivers would have been the game-winning play.