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The NBA world has spent the previous a number of years attempting to separate Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. Year after 12 months he has watched superstars workforce up and win championships in different cities as he remained on flawed Blazer rosters, ready for the chance to get there himself. He nonetheless hasn’t fairly reached that pinnacle, however on Monday, his loyalty to Portland was rewarded in one other manner.
Lillard entered Monday’s sport in opposition to the Oklahoma City Thunder with 18,020 profession factors. That put him 20 factors behind Clyde Drexler, with 18,040, for essentially the most in Blazers historical past. And within the third quarter in Oklahoma City, Lillard sank the free throw that formally made him the main scorer in Blazers historical past.
Assuming Lillard stays in Portland, he’ll move Drexler for quite a lot of different workforce data within the not-too-distant future. He entered Monday having performed in 138 fewer video games than Drexler, having performed roughly 3,000 fewer minutes and having made roughly 1,000 fewer discipline targets. All of these data needs to be attainable within the subsequent 12 months or two. He is lower than 100 assists shy of Drexler, however roughly 500 wanting record-holder Terry Porter.
Team data are damaged much less and fewer typically lately as a result of nice gamers not often spend sufficient time in a single place to do it. Lillard is the exception. He could not ever get the championship he craves in Portland, however he’s cementing his place in workforce historical past with every passing sport. When the mud settles, he could maintain each main file in workforce historical past.
