Trail Blazers: Counting down the 10 greatest moments of CJ McCollum’s career

No. 3: Scoring 50 points in 29 minutes (2018)

In 30 minutes, the average human can cook just about any food they desire — nuggets, Southwest turkey burgers, whatever. On Jan. 31, 2018, NBA League Pass observers got a chance to see what a Chicago-style Bull looks like when cooked over a half-hour frame.

On this night, McCollum became just the second player in NBA history to score 50 points in under 30 minutes — his clock-in time read 29:16, joining Klay Thompson.

Perhaps just as alluring, his teammate Damian Lillard joined in on the fun just nine days later against the Kings. You just can’t make this up.

No. 2: The Lehigh-Duke upset (2012)

This moment didn’t happen with the Portland Trail Blazers, but it’s too seismic a power shift to not include. And for many Trail Blazers fans, McCollum’s 2012 NCAA March Madness success likely presented the “Oh, I remember him” moment when the Trail Blazers drafted him a year later.

To suggest that the Lehigh Mountain Lions were “underdogs” wouldn’t be requisite enough. Duke entered as 12-point favorites, and had a whopping eight players on their roster make the NBA, compared to Lehigh’s one.

McCollum’s 30 points would be the only number that mattered. He went on to win Patriot League Player of the Year awards, and this game justified drafting a guard from a college where no player had ever been drafted … and hasn’t been drafted since.

No. 1: Slaying the Nuggets in Game 7 (2019)

Culminating this list with anything other than McCollum’s Game Seven performance would be criminal — too criminal for even those who support the Law and Order: C.J. Victims Unit.

Realistically, there were two or three moments in this game that could become the standalone best moments of his career. McCollum dissected Denver’s defense to the tune of a 10-of-17 performance in the second-half alone, en route to 37 points and 9 rebounds, strapping together a midrange barrage that would have made mid-2000s stars proud.

In great symbolism, he hit three straight 16-footers from the elbow that put the game on ice. It’s bewildering that his chasedown block — eerily reminiscent of that “other Ohio great” — doesn’t get talked about. (Shoutout to Seth Curry, who played the role of J.R. Smith, and delayed Jamal Murray’s launch.

But, these plays helped crystallize Portland’s first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2000, and ensures McCollum, even without the notoriety of a superstar, remains an Oregon cult hero for generations to come.