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Tim BontempsESPN
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – When the idea of the NBA first dreamed of a bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard had one request: If he was asked to play in Florida, that the NBA give him the chance to to make the playoffs.
Lillard and the Blazers got that chance – and he made sure they took advantage of it.
While it may not have been the same vintage as his 51- and 61-point explosions in the previous two games, Lillard finished with 42 points Thursday night – including 12 in the fourth quarter – when Portland also tied a 134-133 lead. victory over the Brooklyn Nets to earn second place in the league’s inaugural play-in tournament this second weekend.
Portland has just won one of two potential play-in games – Saturday at 2.30pm ET and Sunday at 4.30pm ET, both on ABC – against the Memphis Grizzlies for the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA -playoffs. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, need to win both games to make it to the postseason.
While the two teams in the hunt for playoff games that won earlier Thursday – the Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns – won victories against exhausted Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks teams, respectively, who prepared themselves for ‘ the playoffs, the Blazers got a full commitment from the Nets.
Brooklyn will play the Toronto Raptors starting Tuesday in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but after the Nets have boys in and out of the lineup over the past several weeks, they have opted to play their full rotation , its typical rate of minutes in to prepare for the post season.
“We’ll have our starting lineup we’ve had the last few games and see how those guys progress,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said before the game. “We’ll control these guys – but it’s about us having a rhythm and a kind of progression as we lead to the playoffs.
“That we’ll judge the game, see what the game throws up, but those guys have the mental makeup at the moment they’re playing a competitive basketball game.”
The Nets kept that focus all the way, as Caris LeVert (37 points on 16-for-29 shots, with 9 assists) led Brooklyn to a 10-point lead in the third quarter. The Nets as a team shot a whopping 59.7% of the field by three-quarters against the fiery Portland defense that on Thursday set the game in 21st place in defensive efficiency.
But Portland, as it did against Philadelphia and Dallas, fought back, taking the lead with 1 minute, 47 seconds left on a layup by Jusuf Nurkic that made it 132-130 from Portland, and CJ McCollum doubled the lead with a free throw line jumper with 53.4 seconds behind a frenetic sequence that saw both Nurkic and Lillard on the floor for loose balls.
However, the Blazers gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the fourth, and it turned out that it would come back to cost them dearly when LeVert scored over Nurkic, plus a foul, with 37.7 seconds left, giving them the lead. of Portland cut to 134-133.
The Blazers had a chance to seal the game when Carmelo Anthony had a wide open look in the corner that would have shoved the lead to four, but Anthony missed. Brooklyn then came down and opted to play for the win, with LeVert isolated against McCollum – whom he had unrestrictedly attacked in the fourth quarter.
But even though LeVert came off a quality shot, it went well, and the Blazers escaped with their playoff lives – and live to fight again on Saturday.
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