Damian Lillard lit up the Moda Center on Wednesday night.
Lillard scored a season-high 60 points to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 134-124 victory over the Utah Jazz in the third quarter. He came just shy of his career high of 61 points as a late 3-pointer went short.
Lillard now has 15 50-point games in his career, which ranks sixth all-time in the NBA. Wednesday was also the fourth game in which he scored 60 points or more, which ranks third in NBA history.
It’s also the third 60-point game in the NBA this season, following 71 from Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers and 60 from Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
Lillard had 26 points at halftime in a close game with the Jazz. However, it was the third quarter that put the Trail Blazers ahead.
Lillard scored 24 of his 60 points in that quarter, and he had 50 with a minute to go. He finished the scoring streak by scoring 20 points in a row for the Trail Blazers.
It took Lillard some time to add to that total. He rested for the opening few minutes of the fourth quarter before hitting a fadeaway shot from the short corner at the midway point to bring his total to 52.
He gradually increased his lead over the next few minutes, reaching 60 points with roughly 90 seconds left at the free-throw line, putting Portland ahead by 14.
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With the game out of reach, Utah began to rest its starters. Lillard had one more shot at a 3-pointer that would have tied his career high, but he was just off.
Lillard shot 21-of-29 from the field and 9-of-15 from three-point range. He also had seven rebounds and eight assists.
Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz with 24 points and four rebounds, and Collin Sexton came off the bench to score 19 points. The Jazz have now dropped two of their past three games and are 25-26 on the season.
