LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – When the NBA’s idea of creating a bubble at Walt Disney World Resort was first launched, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard had a request: If he was asked to come and play in Florida that the NBA give him the opportunity to make the playoffs.
Lillard and the Blazers had this opportunity and he made sure they took advantage of it.
While it may not have been the same year as his 51- and 61-point outbursts in the previous two games, Lillard finished with 42 points Thursday night – including 12 in the fourth quarter – while Portland scored a 134-133 win over Brooklyn. Nets to earn second place in the league’s inaugural play-in tournament this weekend.
Portland needs to win only one of two potential play-in games – Saturday at 2:30 PM ET and Sunday at 4:30 PM ET, both on ABC – against the Memphis Grizzlies to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, must win both games to make the postseason.
While the two teams chasing play-in tournament spots that won earlier Thursday – the Grizzlies and the Phoenix Suns – scored victories against sold out Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks, respectively, who were preparing for the playoffs, the Blazers got a full effort from the nets.
Brooklyn will play with the Toronto Raptors starting Tuesday in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but after the Nets have had guys in and out of lineup for the past few weeks, they have chosen to play their full rotation, the typical allotment of minutes in for prepare for the postseason.
“We will have our starting lineup that we have had in the last two games and see how those guys progress,” said Nets coach Jacque Vaughn before the game. “We’ll be monitoring those guys – but it’s about us having a pace and a kind of progression as we head into the playoffs.
“So we’re going to evaluate the game, we’ll see what makes the game, but those kids have the mental makeup right now they’re playing a competitive basketball game.”
The Nets certainly kept that focus the whole time, as Caris LeVert (37 points on the 16/29 shot, with 9 assists) put Brooklyn up to a 10 point lead at the end of the third quarter. The Nets as a team shot a searing 59.7% from the field through three-quarters against the flammable Portland defense that entered Thursday’s game in 21st place in defensive efficiency.
But Portland, as he did against Philadelphia and Dallas, reacted and took the lead with 1 minute, 47 seconds remaining on a layup by Jusuf Nurkic that led to Portland 132-130, and CJ McCollum doubled the lead with a shot free line jumper with 53.4 seconds remaining following a frantic sequence that saw both Nurkic and Lillard dive to the ground for stray balls.
The Blazers gave up a multitude of offensive rebounds in the fourth, however, and it looked like it would come back to cost them dearly when LeVert scored on Nurkic, plus a foul, with 37.7 seconds left, cutting Portland’s lead to 134. -133.
The Blazers had a chance to close the game when Carmelo Anthony had a wide-open look at the corner that would have pushed the lead back to four, but Anthony missed. Brooklyn then went down and chose to play for the win, with LeVert isolated against McCollum – who had attacked relentlessly in the fourth quarter.
But although LeVert pulled off a quality shot, it went wrong, and the Blazers fled with their lives to the playoffs and live to fight again on Saturday.
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