PORTLAND, Ore. – If Damian Lillard's series-clinching walkoff three-pointer on Tuesday night looked vaguely familiar, it's because the Portland Trail Blazers star has done it before.
His buzzer-beating three sent Houston packing back in 2014.
It might have been from a different spot and against a different team, but it was the same Lillard — cool and confident. As a result, the Trail Blazers are into the second round of the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.
"That's Dame," teammate Zach Collins said after Portland's 118-115 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. "Besides the shot, that was one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. ... It will go down in the history books as that."
Lillard finished with 50 points, including 10 three-pointers — capped by the legend-making three — to end the Blazers-Thunder first-round, Western Conference series in five games.
With the score tied in the final moments, Lillard dribbled just inside of half-court near the Blazers logo and then pulled up and hit the winner at the buzzer from 37 feet. Then he waved goodbye to the Thunder bench.
"It was a little bit different," Lillard said about the two game-winners, which came from different sides of the court. "In that [2014] game we were down by two, there was less time. That time, I actually broke the play. … All the guys out there were telling me just run to the ball and that's what I did.
"Tonight, this was kind of the way it was set up."