Portland Trail Blazers: 4 players who have stepped up in NBA restart

1. Damian Lillard

One of the main players responsible for Portland’s recent stretch of success is none other than Damian Lillard, a.k.a. “Dame Time”. Lillard is both the team’s leading scorer and distributor, with overall averages of 29.8 points and 8.0 assists per contest.

As impressive as those numbers are, Lillard has ramped it up a notch in the bubble. For instance, he has scored at least 45 points in three of the past four games. This includes a 45-point, 12-assist effort in a 125-115 win over the Denver Nuggets on Aug. 6.

Sure, Lillard did come up a bit short in the team’s next outing against the LA Clippers. In that contest, he missed a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer in the final seconds. But since that disappointing loss, Lillard has been nothing short of spectacular.

He finished with 51 points to go along with seven assists, propelling the Trail Blazers to a 124-121 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. However, the All-Star guard wasn’t done just yet.

In the Blazers’ recent matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, Dame erupted for 61 points to go along with eight assists.

Additionally, he shot 17-for-32 from the field, including a 9-for-17 effort from 3-point land. In light of his recent performance, Lillard joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in NBA history to reach the 60-point plateau three times in a single season.

Although Lillard’s play has been otherworldly as of late, it will be interesting to see how far this team can go with CJ McCollum playing through a lower back injury.