There was almost no way to stop Damian Lillard in Tuesday night's Trail Blazers vs. Nuggets game, and Austin Rivers bore witness to that.
Rivers was tasked with guarding Lillard for the majority of the game. Rivers was mostly helpless in guarding the All-Star but still found the experience "really fun."
"Bro....he was not missing for s—," Rivers wrote on Instagram. "1 [hand] in his face, 2 hands in his face. Lol I'm like wtf is this. Banking threes and s—. In all seriousness, it's really fun to guard him. He's as tough as they come. No lie."
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Rivers may be describing this as fun now, but during the game he was legitimately thanking higher powers when Lillard missed a shot.
Austin Rivers really said “Thank God 🙏” when Dame finally missed a shot 😂 pic.twitter.com/9JluUNv6t8
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) June 2, 2021
Lillard went 17-of-24 from the field and made 12 3-point shots on 17 attempts. Not only did he set the record for most playoff 3-pointers made in a single game, but he tied the seventh-highest single-game scoring output by a player in NBA playoff history with 55 points.
| Rank | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Jordan | Bulls | 63 |
| 2 | Elgin Baylor | Lakers | 61 |
| 3 | Donovan Mitchell | Jazz | 57 |
| T-4 | Charles Barkley | Suns | 56 |
| T-4 | Michael Jordan | Bulls | 56 |
| T-4 | Wilt Chamberlain | Philadelphia Warriors | 56 |
| T-7 | Damian Lillard | Trail Blazers | 55 |
| T-7 | Allen Iverson | 76ers | 55 |
| T-7 | Michael Jordan* | Bulls | 55 |
| T-7 | Rick Barry | Warriors | 55 |
* Jordan scored 55 points in the playoffs three times during his tenure with the Bulls.
Considering that all the non-active players on this list made it to the Basketball Hall of Fame, that's good company for Lillard to keep.
However, even despite Lillard's heroics, the Trail Blazers weren't able to emerge with the win. The Nuggets took home a 147-140 victory in double-overtime.
Maybe that's why Rivers thought guarding Lillard was fun last night. Had the Blazers emerged with the win, perhaps he'd have a bit of a different take on having to guard a nearly unstoppable player.
