Houston Chronicle: Lillard 3-pointer at the buzzer gives Blazers 99-98 victory, ends Rockets season
The Oregonian: Damian Lillard hits greatest shot in Trail Blazers history, and the best might be yet to come
I’ve said this before, and I’ll likely say it again, but I normally don’t write about sports…unless there’s a truly compelling story to be had. The fleeting, ephemeral nature of athletic competition can make today’s champions tomorrow’s doormat, and there isn’t much real drama to be found in a kid’s game.
Except when there is.
I watched the Portland Trail Blazers defeat the Houston Rockets 99-98 last night in Game 6 of their first-round series, clinching the series four games to two. That sentence seem so adequate when one considers what transpired in the final few seconds. Last night’s game was one of those rare instances when a game finds a way to keep two disparate cities on the edge of their collective seats. In less than a second, Portland and Houston exchanged joy for despair in one of the most compelling, emotionally wrenching finishes to a basketball game I’ve ever witnessed. The Blazers didn’t need to win; if they’d lost, the series would have gone on to Game 7 in Houston, when Rockets fans would’ve come close to blowing the roof off the Toyota Center. Houston desperately needed a win in order return home and fight another day. That’s what made Damian Lillard’s game-(and series-) winning three pointer so poignant. In the space of .9 seconds, Portland went from disappointment to euphoria, and Houston went from relief to abject despair in truly one of the greatest finishes to a game I’ve ever seen.
Erin went to bed at halftime (I know; don’t ask me to explain why). When she got up this morning, I tried to convey what I’d seen and felt. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, she watched the video of the final shot, but it just isn’t the same when you know the outcome ahead of time. I felt like a little kid leaping for joy when Lillard nail the three-pointer; how could I possibly communicate that feeling?
I’m not going to gloat; I still have a lot of friends (along with an ex- and her family) in Houston who undoubtedly experienced the exact opposite of what I did last night. I attended a number of Blazers-Rockets games in Toyota Center during my 3,722 days in Houston (not that I was counting), and it doesn’t take much to imagine what Rockets fans are feeling. Lo siento, y’all; I think the video speaks volumes:
The Blazers get to move on to the second round for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, where they’ll play either Dallas or San Antonio. I don’t know what will happen in that series, but I can’t imagine anything topping what happened last night.
Damian Lillard will likely never have to pay for a meal in Portland again….
