Last night in New Orleans, Damian Lillard poured in 41 points, in addition to nine rebounds and six assists, as the Portland Trail Blazers picked up a 107-103 victory. Shortly after Lillard's 41-point performance, he boarded a plane back to Portland and went straight to the hospital to be with his girlfriend who went into labor during the game.
According to NBA.com, Lillard says he learned when he got to the locker room after the game against the Pelicans that his girlfriend was in labor. He says the message was essentially, "Get home."
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The All-Star guard took a private jet home while the Blazers boarded a flight to Memphis for tonight's game against the Grizzlies. Even without Lillard on the second night of a back-to-back, Portland should be able to take care of business tonight against the Grizz, who currently have the second worst record in the NBA at 20-54.
"We know this is a big trip still but these two (wins) against teams right on our heals, one of them a division opponent, we know that these two are really, really big," said Lillard of their last two wins against the Thunder and Pelicans. "I'm just happy I'll be able to get on that plane knowing we got these first two (games)."
Lillard is averaging 26.8 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game this season while leading the Trail Blazers to a 46-28 record that has them sitting in third place in the wildly competitive Western Conference. With eight games remaining in the regular season the Blazers are 2.5 games up on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
