Damian Lillard Sets Trail Blazers Franchise Scoring Record With 59 Points

The Portland Trail Blazers have a new record-holder for points scored in a single game: Damian Lillard. Lillard’s 59-point outburst against the Utah Jazz Saturday night propelled his team to a 101-86 victory. The victory placed the Blazers in the position to clinch the eighth seed in the 2016-17 NBA Playoffs, which happened the next day. Lillard accomplished this feat on 18-34 shooting from the floor, a franchise-record-tying 9 three-pointers made, and 14-16 from the foul line. In the process, Lillard becomes the 13th player since 1983 to score 55+ points, grab 5+ rebounds and dish out 5+ assists. This is already the third 50-point game of Lillard’s career.

Lillard surpassed Damon Stoudamire, who scored 54 against the New Orleans Hornets on January 14, 2005. In a lost season for the Blazers, Stoudamire shot 20-32 from the field, including 8-16 from the three-point line. He shot only 6 free throws. His Blazers lost to the Baron Davis-led 5-30 Hornets, 112-106.

Six Blazers have scored 50 or more points a total of nine times. Three of those scoring explosions have happened in the past 10 years. In 2008, Brandon Roy’s up-and-coming Blazers played Steve Nash’s perennial-contending Phoenix Suns on national TV. Roy lit up the broadcast, beating the Suns in one of the most famous games of his era. Roy attempted the least number of field goals of any player in this exclusive club: 27 shots. He hit 19 of 21 free throws. Dave Deckard provided a retrospective 5 years later.

Two years later, stunned Blazer fans watched the most unlikely candidate to ever score 50 or more points in a game: Andre Miller. Against one of the Blazers’ toughest foes, the Dallas Mavericks, Miller came alive, scoring at will instead of dishing against their defense. Miller helped put away the Mavericks in overtime, later admitting that he had nothing left in the tank after scoring his final two points.

Here is the full list of games featuring a 50+ point performance. Any other available videos are linked.

59: Damian Lillard vs. Utah Jazz, Apr 8, 2017 (Win)
54: Damon Stoudamire at New Orleans Hornets, January 14, 2005 (Loss)
52: Brandon Roy vs. Phoenix Suns, December 18, 2008 (Win)
52: Andre Miller at Dallas Mavericks, January 30, 2010 (Win)
51: Damian Lillard vs. Golden State Warriors, February 19, 2016 (Win)
51: Geoff Petrie at Houston Rockets, January 20, 1973 (Win)
51: Geoff Petrie vs. Houston Rockets, March 16, 1973 (Win)
50: Clyde Drexler vs. Sacramento Kings, January 6, 1989 (Win)
50: Damian Lillard at Toronto Raptors, March 4, 2016 (Loss)

[All stats in this article are courtesy of basketball-reference]

Lillard also just missed the mark once. Three weeks ago in Miami, he scored a wild 49 points while taking just 21 shots in a Blazers win.

After tonight’s recording breaking performance, Lillard gave a memorable post-game interview.

Nobody will forget this box score anytime soon. For a quarter-by-quarter box score, including Lillard’s 26 first quarter points, see the NBA’s official PDF box score of this game.

And Lillard did not even keep the game ball.