Damian Lillard went off on Sunday night, and reached a number of new milestones in the process.
Lillard, after dropping 41 points in the first half, notched a career-high 71 points in the Portland Trail Blazers’ 131-114 win over the Houston Rockets.
Lillard shot 22-of-38 from the field and made a franchise best 13 3-pointers while playing just 39 minutes.
Lillard’s accomplishments on Sunday night were lengthy. He now has five 60-point games in his career,
which trails only Kobe Bryant’s six and Wilt Chamberlain’s 61. He now has the eighth-highest scoring game in league history, and,
at 32, is the oldest player in league history with a 70-point game. He is also the first person in league history to drop at least 70 points in less than 40 minutes.
Only Chamberlain, Bryant and David Thompson have scored more points in a single game than Lillard.
Lillard got to 50 points by the end of the third quarter, though the Rockets cut the game back to 14 points after trailing by as many as 23 in the period.
He pushed to 59 after a huge and-one dunk over Jabari Smith Jr. midway through the fourth quarter.