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Best of the Season, Part X: Blazers’ streak begins with Valentine victory over GSW

By Matt George Moore

Portland Trail Blazers Damian Lillard (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Portland Trail Blazers Damian Lillard (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Five days after Damian Lillard scored 50 points against the Kings, Kevin Durant dropped 50 of his own on the Trail Blazers. But it wasn’t enough. And a winning streak was born.

For the Portland Trail Blazers, Valentine’s Day 2018 was pretty darn memorable.

First, they beat the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, despite a monster game from Kevin Durant, who scored a season-high 50 points and shot 63 percent from the field. The win snapped the Blazers’ seven-game losing streak to the Warriors.

Second, Damian Lillard, who scored 44 points (56 percent shooting) and dished out eight assists against the Warriors, continued his torrid offensive pace. Two games earlier on Feb. 9, he dumped 50 on the Sacramento Kings. And on Feb. 11, he scored 39 points in a home loss to the Utah Jazz.

And finally, the Valentine victory was the start of one of the longest winning streaks in franchise history. Portland would ultimately win 13 in a row and 15 of 16 overall (the lone loss being the aforementioned Jazz game) to launch themselves into the upper tier of the Western Conference.

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Warriors-Blazers

The Blazers won two out of the three games they played against the Warriors in the 2017-2018 season.

Their Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day match-up was both teams’ final game before the NBA All-Star break.

And the Warriors’ loss to the Blazers on that day would be the only blemish on their record from Feb. 8 until March 8 — a stretch of games during which they won 10 of 11.

As we mentioned, Lillard was still on fire. But the Blazers also got big-time contributions from Jusuf Nurkic (back from his mystery ailment); he scored 17 points and grabbed 13 boards and committed zero turnovers.

CJ McCollum added 29 points. And Portland got six points and six rebounds from Evan Turner in just 18 minutes off the bench.

KD and the Warriors

Durant was legit unstoppable for Golden State. Along with his 50 points, he snared seven rebounds, got six assists and blocked two shots. And he was 6/14 (43 percent) from three.

The other Warriors looked sorta mortal by comparison: Steph Curry and Klay Thompson both scored 17 points but shot poorly. Draymond Green (16 points, 12 boards, seven assists and four blocks) was a beast, though.

Streak

The reasons this game makes our “Best of the Season” list are obvious: a big win against a powerhouse team; 44 points from Dame Dolla; and the beginning of a 13-game winning streak.

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And it was right around the time that Portland (32-26) started to establish itself as one of the best teams in the league. By the time the winning streak ended with a loss to the Houston Rockets on March 20, Portland’s record had improved to 44-27.

Things were definitely looking up for the Blazers. And there were still a few games left that were worthy of being considered “best of the season.”

Stay tuned.