Portland Trail Blazers rookie point guard Damian Lillard took advantage of Tony Parker's absence to bolster his Rookie of the Year campaign and lead his team to a blowout victory over the Western Conference-leading San Antonio Spurs.
Lillard dropped 35 points on San Antonio, to go with nine assists and two steals in the 136-106 beat down. The 30-point loss was the widest margin of defeat in Tim Duncan's career. Lillard is averaging 19 points and 6.4 assists a night this year while shooting 36 percent from downtown. Lillard did not pretend that Parker's injury played a role in his explosion, saying "He's one of their best players. It would have been a completely different game. I might be more tired from chasing him around. But that doesn't really matter, 'cause he didn't play."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich heaped praise upon the precocious Lillard after his big night. "He was pretty special. He just bid his time in the first half. Aldridge was playing so well (in the first half). In the second half, Lillard just took over and we just couldn't stop him."
Lillard wasn't the only Blazer who racked up huge numbers in the win. J.J. Hickson put up 23 points and 11 rebounds and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points while adding five boards.
As a team, Portland shot 61.9 percent from 3-point land, with Wesley Matthews' 5-of-7 showing leading the way. Popovich lamented his team's inability to control their hot shooting saying, "They had a great night shooting. That's a bad combination if they're doing that and we're playing poor defense. I can't remember a night where we played that poorly and, at the same time, the other team shot the heck out of it. That's going to make it tough."
The Blazers are 29-32, good for tenth in the Western Conference. They are two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers and three and a half games behind the eighth place Utah Jazz.
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