Damian Lillard has been playing out of his mind since the All-Star break, and Friday was no different.
The Portland Trail Blazers guard scored 50 points, but it wasn't enough to avoid a 117-115 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
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Friday's game was his second 50-plus performance in two weeks, following the 51 he put up in an upset win over the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 19. It was also the seventh time he scored 30 or more in nine games since the All-Star break.
"How he isn't an All-Star in our league? Shame on us," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Friday night . "That young man can score any which way he wants to. Talk about (Stephen) Curry coming across half court and shooting it? This young man can come across half court and shoot it also."
The Trail Blazers are 6-3 since the All-Star break, and Lillard has been the catalyst. He's averaging 31.6 points per game in his last 10 games, while shooting a respectable 46.5 percent from the field. The team has dropped its last two contests, but is still very much in the thick of the playoff race with less than two months remaining in the regular season. Portland has to finish out its six-game road trip against the Pistons on Sunday.
"We really did ourselves a favor winning those first three (games) knowing it was going to be a tough trip," Lillard said, via ForwardCenter.com . "Boston got after us, got a win. (Friday), we gave ourselves a chance against a really good team. We go to Detroit now and we’ve got to really lock in on this one because it would be great to go home off this trip 4-2."