PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard scored a season-high 60 points, hitting nine 3-pointers, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 134-124 on Wednesday night.
Lillard’s 60 points are tied for the second most in the NBA this season. Donovan Mitchell had 71 in an overtime game for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 3, and Luka Doncic scored 60 in the Dallas Mavericks‘ OT victory over the New York Knicks on Dec. 27.
Jerami Grant added 19 points to help Portland win its second straight game.
Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz with 24 points. He had a layup followed by a tip shot with 5:20 left that got Utah to 115-108. Grant and Anfernee Simons had back-to-back dunks to put Portland up 121-110, and the Blazers led comfortably the rest of the way.
When Lillard came to the free throw line late in the game, the home crowd stood and chanted “MVP!” Lillard missed a jump shot with 29.1 seconds left that would have topped his career-best 61.
Lillard has four career games of 60 points or more. He has reached 61 twice.
He has also had 14 career 50-point games, tied with LeBron James for the second most among active players and trailing only James Harden (23).
After struggling for much of January, the Blazers were coming off a morale-boosting 147-127 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.
Lillard had 26 points in the first half, hitting six 3s. He finished 21-of-29 from the field, 9-of-15 on 3s and 9-of-10 from the line. He’s the fourth player to score 60 points on 70% shooting from the field in NBA history, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone and David Thompson.
He also had eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
