Damian Lillard scored 41 points as the Portland Trailblazers took down the Phoenix Suns 113-111 in an overtime thriller
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The Portland Trailblazers played their Home Opener tonight as they hosted the mighty Phoenix Suns. After handing the Sacramento Kings a 115-108 loss in Sac Town, the Blazers came home and took care of the home court.
After the Suns held the lead as big as 12 points, the Blazers came storming back, riding on Damian Lillard’s 41-point outburst.
The Blazers outscored the Suns 55-49 in the second half and took the game to overtime. In overtime, Jusuf Nurkic did the bulk of the work, recording 5 points and three rebounds during the frame. Overall, Nurk had 20 points and 17 rebounds for the contest.
In overtime, it wasn’t Damian Lillard who got the Blazers over the limit, but their rising star Anfernee Simmons. After the game, Dame shared his conversation with Simons just before he hit the clutch shot.
Damian Lillard pushed Anfernee Simons to take the clutch shot
This summer was a good one for Anfernee Simons. After proving his mettle and showing that he can be a key part of the Blazers’ future, the young guard signed on a 4-year, $100 Million deal. Tonight Simons proved why he was given big money.
Before OT started, Simons was 4/15 from the field and only had 14 points for the contest. When OT started, he missed his first attempt. However, with 7.2 seconds left and the game tied at 111, Simons hit a huge shot that put the Blazers up two.
ANFERNEE SIMONS COMES UP CLUTCH IN OT‼️ pic.twitter.com/DWfyKhXXQ6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 22, 2022
After the game, Dame shared what he’d told Simons before that shot.
“I told him: I trust you, put your big boy pants on. You got the big contract, you got the game.”
—Dame on his trust for Anfernee Simons 😂👏 pic.twitter.com/kZ3MiC2YTW
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 22, 2022
Well, whatever Dame said did work, because that shot gave the Blazers the lead, and helped them keep the Suns at bay and win their 2nd game of the season.
Dame saved the Blazers’ game with his clutch mind games
As we all know, Damian Lillard is synonymous with clutch. No player likes to be on the receiving end of Dame Time, and it’s for a good reason. Dame has made big shots time and again to take his team over the line.
However, tonight, Dame didn’t come up with the clutch bucket. Instead, he came up with the clutch talk that first helped Simons score the clutch bucket and then got in Deandre Ayton’s head, making him miss the game-tying free throws.
Damian Lillard on what he said to Deandre Ayton at the foul line at the end: “I just asked him, ‘have you ever been in this situation before?’ I wanted him to think about it a little bit. And then when he ignored me, I felt like he was thinking about it.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) October 22, 2022
After talking to Lillard, Ayton missed the first free throw, with the Suns down 2 and 1.2 seconds on the clock. After that, he missed the second one on purpose, hoping to get a putback attempt. The Suns did get a shot, but it was no good, and Dame’s talk sealed the game for the Blazers.
