Lillard Sends the Rockets Home - 2014
- Dec 3, 2019
- 2 min read
May 2nd, 2014 – The first round of the 2013-14 NBA Playoffs. Houston, a team of James Harden and Dwight Howard, Chandler Parsons (who was actually still relevant in 2014) and Patrick Beverly, were down 2-3 in the 7-game series, playing in Portland, against a team of Lamarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews (who, was also relevant in 2014).
What unfolded in approximately 0.9 seconds is one of the greatest and most iconic shots in not only Portland’s history, but maybe the whole NBA, launching a new young player into the spotlight.
The game was back and forth, until eventually it was tied, 96-96 with three seconds left. Harden Missed a shot to put the Rockets up and just when it looks like the Blazers had secured a rebound, big-man Robin Lopez fumbled the ball into the hands of Chandler Parsons who put the ball straight up and in for two points. 98-96 Rockets, with 0.9 seconds left.
Portland advance the ball with a time out, and when they come back out, Aldridge was posted up against Dwight Howard with role player Nicholas Batum inbounding the ball. Lillard was in the corner, with Wesley Matthews and Mo Williams lined up diagonally from him.
The play was designed to have the ball inbounded to Aldridge, the Power Forward who had produced consistently for the franchise for 8 years, and had averaged 23 points for them throughout the season.
The play broke down quickly, Howard managed to deny a pass into the post and Batum was stuck holding the ball. Lillard at only 23 years old, in his second season of the NBA saw the play had died and had to make something happen in a play that was not designed for him.
Sprinting out of the corner, Lillard used Williams and Matthews as unintentional screens and came around the top of the three-point line, however, Batum was laser-focused on getting the ball to Aldridge in the post, despite the play breaking down.
Lillard clapped, trying to get the attention of the Batum, when finally, at the last second he did and as the ball came to him, in one sweet, smooth and simply beautiful motion Lillard put the ball up from 29-feet way from the hoop, in the second year of his young NBA career, Lillard would drain the shot, to win the game and the series, sending the Houston Rockets home.
The moment is made more iconic by, just about everything possible, the call of the commentators is iconic – “He got the shot off, Lillard got it, Good! And the Blazers, win the series, for the first time in 14 years!”
The home crowd at Portland, exploded as the familiar sound of a ball, touching nothing but net hits the stadium, it erupts into chaos, with confetti and a pile of bodies collapsing on Lillard to celebrate the shot.
It is, truly enough to give anyone with an interest in sports goose bumps, no matter how many times they watch it.
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