PORTLAND, Ore. — After 71 points, it's time to come clean.
I am an unabashed fan of Damian Lillard, the star guard for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, who awed the league with a 71-point outburst in a win on Sunday.
Lillard became just the 8th player in NBA history to score 70 or more points in a game.
You may ask, what's the big deal? Many marvel at the offensive wizardry of this undersized (in today's NBA) player now in his 11th season.
But you have to understand, unabashed fandom doesn't come easy.
In more than 30 years covering sports for NPR, I've learned, like any well-trained reporter, not to take sides. In my beat that literally means, no cheering.
At times it's been tough. Very tough.
I've been a fortunate in-person witness to Brandi Chastain's winning penalty kick in the watershed 1999 Women's World Cup final; to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' historic comeback in Super Bowl 51; to the 2004 Boston Red Sox ending an agonizing 86-year World Series championship drought; to all of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's breathtaking Olympic Gold Medals; and to Lionel Messi's crowning moment, leading Argentina to the men's World Cup title last year.
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Through all this and more...I was inwardly thrilled. Outwardly? I watched and scribbled notes and recorded cheers and stayed seated, while fans around me lost their collective minds.
But then came Lillard's explosion, and I can no longer hide my one indulgence.
The sports world at large has become familiar with this smallish guard's huge on-court accomplishments – playoff game-winning shots in 2014 and 2019. Clutch moments, dubbed "Dame time," with Lillard tapping his imaginary wristwatch. Jumpers from such long range they earned him another nickname, "Logo Lillard."
Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers taps his wrist signifying "Dame Time" after a clutch three-point basket in the closing seconds against the Los Angeles Lakers on October 23, 2022.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
But tucked away here in the upper left-hand corner of the country, largely off the nation's sports radar, we in Portland have gotten something deeper and more meaningful from Damian Lillard.
A combination of leadership, loyalty and perspective rare for someone so young and part of today's zillion-dollar, super-hyped world of major professional sports.
Basketball was a sports love language I shared with my two young children. I coached them a little, and watched them a lot, experiencing both glee and angst sitting in the bleachers. I often turned to hoops to impart life lessons, earning me a fair share of eye rolls.
But once Lillard showed up — Portland grabbed him with the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA draft — the kid's eye-rolling stopped, as he dazzled on the court and provided a bountiful harvest of teaching moments.
In 2018, after the New Orleans Pelicans humiliated the Blazers in a first round playoff sweep, bereft Portland fans clamored for major change. Blow up the team!
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