It wasn't Game 5 against the Thunder. Damian Lillard's first-career Game 7 saw the Portland Trail Blazers star guard scored 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting from the field Sunday against the Denver Nuggets.
But the Blazers, thanks to CJ McCollum's 37-point outburst, kicked the Nuggets to the curb, 100-96.
Up next: A Western Conference finals battle with the two-time defending NBA champion Warriors.
Even if the Warriors are without Kevin Durant -- who missed Game 6 of their second-round NBA playoff series with the Rockets due to a calf strain -- the Blazers would appear to be outgunned in their first conference finals appearance since 2000. After all, how many advantages to the Blazers have in the individual matchups in the series? Probably not many.
But despite the Warriors' talent edge, Lillard is confident in the Blazers' ability to slay the dragon.
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Following Portland's Game 7 win over the Nuggets, a Pepsi Center ball boy was offering Dame some encouragement before his battle with the Dubs.
Lillard's response shows how unafraid the Oakland native is of the NBA's Goliath.
"They're due," Lillard said, via ESPN. "They're due."
Due, the Warriors might be. But are the Blazers, without Jusuf Nurkic and perhaps Rodney Hood, the team to take them down? It seems unlikely.
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In order for Portland to have a chance at dethroning the Warriors, Lillard and McCollum will have to outplay Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, and even that might not be enough.
The Blazers face an uphill battle starting Tuesday night at Oracle Arena, but that's nothing new for a Portland squad that was counted out the minute Nurkic went down with a grisly leg injury.
After Lillard sent Russell Westbrook and the Thunder packing in Round 1, McCollum dealt the kill shot to the Nuggets on Sunday in Denver. Now, they face an unenviable, but unavoidable task of trying to take down the Warriors.
Best of luck.
