If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is round, does it make a sound? What if it drops 71? That age-old query describes how empty Damian Lillard’s explosion of factors felt — however not due to something Lillard himself did flawed.

For the reason that calendar flipped to 2023, Lillard has been probably the most computerized bucket within the league, scoring 210 extra factors than every other participant in The Affiliation., He’s additionally a Portland loyalist, clinging to the Path Blazers tight sufficient to show his knuckles white. Sadly, Dame Time is working out, and beneath the eye-popping stat line, final evening was a reminder that he’s going to start decaying quickly on a franchise that will not be growing right into a championship crew on this timeline.

Saturday evening was only a continuation of Lillard’s ongoing scoring spree. The hollowness of all of it is partially because of the circumstances surrounding Lillard’s performances. For one, a lot of the nation missed it dwell. However that’s nothing new for Dame. By the point the alert had gone out to the east coast that he’d scored 41 earlier than halftime (courtesy of a logo-length three) it was already 10:14 on a Sunday evening.

However even Lillard’s prolific scoring feels prefer it’s develop into ubiquitous all through the league. Each celebrity appears to have one in every of these video games nowadays. The Clippers and Kings mixed for 314 only a evening earlier.

The once-rare phenomenon of giant particular person scoring has develop into so commonplace this season that they’ve begun to lose their luster. Donovan Mitchell already put up 71 this yr in an additional time victory over the Chicago Bulls final month. Lillard himself now has 5 60-plus scoring performances in his profession, together with one earlier this yr.

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The opponent matters slightly too. Houston’s “Trauma for Wembanyama” tour blunted the impact of Lillard’s offensive barrage — Portland won by 17 over an outmatched AAU squad. The Rockets have spent most of this season playing Rucker Park defense, so it’s never surprising anymore when some salivating superstar’s nuclear reactor ignites against them.

However, 2022-23 is the first NBA regular season to feature multiple 70-point performances, and both came in the past month. There have been 21 50-point games this season and the league appears on track to shatter the record of 23, which was set four years ago and which was nearly broken during the lockout shortened-campaign. These scoring outbursts are already blurring together.

Meanwhile, Portland’s championship aspirations fell by the wayside. Despite Lillard’s radioactive glow, the Blazers are only 10-10 in their last 20 games and are outside the play-in at 29-31. Lillard’s 71 is a nice superlative on his Hall of Fame resume, but the memories of it will fade if this season continues on its current trajectory. Dame has spent all season trying to get anyone to listen. He won his third 3-point shooting contest, tying him with Larry Bird, and proclaimed himself the second-best shooter in league historical past.

Lillard has dedicated himself to successful in Portland, however the momentum of the franchise present is trending in opposition to him.

Over time, Lillard’s develop into the embodiment of when Jay Z confessed in “Second of Readability”: “If expertise offered, reality be informed, I’d in all probability be lyrically Talib Kweli.” Expertise-wise, Lillard had been in Steph Curry’s zip code for a decade earlier than Ja Morant shepherded in a brand new technology of ball-dominant level guards and surpassed him within the level guard hierarchy. Lillard is a mix of Curry’s deep capturing and Morant’s athleticism, nevertheless it’s by no means been correctly utilized. The closest Lillard’s ever come to an MVP was in 2018, when he completed fourth within the vote. In that postseason, Portland was swept within the first spherical by New Orleans.

Until Portland forces Lillard out in his twilight years, he’ll be one of many few single-franchise superstars in league historical past. In doing so, he dangers condemning himself to not solely turning into a less-obnoxious Talib Kweli, but in addition Portland’s up to date Dave Bing.

Bing was one of many early heliocentric scoring level guards in league historical past, the 2nd general choose in 1962, even gained a scoring title, was named to the All-Star Staff seven occasions, and was voted simply onto the NBA’s fiftieth Anniversary Staff, however spent his prime years on a floundering Pistons franchise that by no means superior previous the Convention Semifinals. Bing was so revered in Detroit that he was elected Mayor of the town in 2009 after Kwame Kilpatrick resigned from workplace for his position in a legal fraud scheme. Outdoors of Detroit, although, Bing’s legacy was caught in a riptide of losses and he was shortly swept apart as soon as Isiah Thomas hoisted them into title competition.

Lillard’s legacy as a cold-blooded shooter is unbroken, however his ceiling needs to be larger than empty scoring outbursts in a misplaced season. Submit-trade deadline, these are the substances Lillard is cooking with. However he’s bought the burners going, so it could be time to take a look at what else he can concoct over Portland’s last 22 video games.