With the clock winding down, the game tied and the Portland Trailblazers with possession, the fans, the players, and even Damian Lillard knew that there was only one person who was going to take the final shot. As soon as Al-Farouq Aminu corralled the rebound from the Thunder's missed shot, the entire stadium exploded. They were ready to see one of Damian Lillard's signature clutch moments. He even earned himself a name for these clutch moments, Dame Time.
Before we dive into this clutch moment that we witnessed last night, we have to take a step back and see what created the NBA's greatest show.
Look no further than his series-winning shot in the first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs against the Houston Rockets. Down 2 with 0.9 seconds remaining in Game 6, a 3-pointer would send the Rockets home and push the Trailblazers to the first round. Damian Lillard ran towards the inbounder with a slight step ahead of Chandler Parsons. Damian Lillard caught the ball and without hesistation faded away and launched a deep three. Sure enough, as the horn sounded the ball swished through the basket. This was the shot where Dame Time was born.
Since then, it was generally accepted by most fans and players that Damian Lillard was one of the clutchest, if not the clutchest player in the NBA. Since then Damian Lillard has hit 18 clutch game winning or tying shots. For Damian Lillard he thrives under pressure and even enjoys it. For Dame, the oppurtunity to put the game away with a clutch shot is priceless.
For most players taking a deep three is not a very favorable shot. Especially when this shot is in the postseason, to win the series. Damian Lillard is just in another league. The league as a whole shot a dismal 26% in shots from 30 to 40 feet away this season. Damian Lillard shot 40% in these same distance shots in his 51 attempts this season. Only one other player can match Damian Lillard in the proficiency he has during clutch moments and deep-range shots. This player is none other than Stephen Curry.
Prior to this season, Damian Lillard has been All-NBA only twice in his career. His dominance throughout the entire series against the OKC Thunder and the stats and performances he has put in game in and game out has solidified himself as a Top 2 Point Guard in the NBA. Only arguably behind the golden boy of the NBA himself, Stephen Curry. Not only is Damian Lillard putting up statlines that are spectacular in their own right, he is performing in the most important moments and pulling out wins every night. This is no better exemplified than Damian Lillard's performance last night.
Al-Farouq Aminu passed the ball to Damian Lillard. With 15 seconds left the game was in Dame's hands. This is where he wanted the ball to be to decide the game, this is where he thrived, this was Dame Time. Damian Lillard let the clock tick down to 0:02 before drilling a 37-footer in Paul George's face that not only ended the series, but gave him his 48th, 49th and 50th points to cap off a historic night.
This was the greatest shot in the organization's history, and possibly the greatest shot in postseason history, but this wasn't the signature moment of the night. No. The signature moment of the night happened seconds after Damian Lillard hit the series-winning shot. He waved goodbye to the Thunder bench, after all the trash talking during the series, Damian Lillard had the last laugh. This shot, this moment, and the wave afterwards will forever be cemented in NBA history.
After all, it is Dame Time.