Damian Lillard (#0) of the Portland Trail Blazers drives toward the rim in the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, January 30, 2023. /CFP
The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 129-125 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, ending their six game home streak with a win. They won only three of the six.
Damian Lillard shot 10-for-21, including making five triples, to drop court-high 42 points for the Trail Blazers while scoring in double digits in every one of the four quarters. Since he came back from a grade one strain to the soleus muscle in the right lower leg in early December, Lillard has averaged 32.1 points in 27 games.
There are two obvious changes to his style of playing. First, Lillard and his teammates have grown more skilled in having him launch offense without the ball; second, he is better at drawing fouls to earn 8.7 free throws per game, which marks a new career high. On Monday night, Lillard went 17-for-17 at the free throw line.
Damian Lillard (L) of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots in the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, January 30, 2023. /CFP
In spite of Lillard's incredible performance, the Trail Blazers never had a dominant advantage over the Hawks at home. Their biggest lead was 10 points and that didn't last long. The Hawks actually had the opportunity to tie the score in the final 30 seconds, if Bogdan Bogdanovic hadn't missed two of the three throws he got.
The Trail Blazers' poor protection of rebounds was one of the reasons that the Hawks could keep the competition close on Monday. Clint Capela alone grabbed 10 of the team's 17 offensive rebounds. Without Trae Young feeding him easy baskets, Capela made his offensive contributions by causing trouble for the opponents on the offensive glass and helped the team lead in second-chance points 21-3.
Dejounte Murray (#5) of the Atlanta Hawks shoots in the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, January 30, 2023. /CFP
The Hawks' bench unit also performed well to outscore their Trail Blazers' counterpart 46-23. Coach Nate McMillan didn't have Bogdanovic start to fill in Young's absence. Instead, he put Bogdanovic in charge of offense in the backup squad. Though Bogdanovic didn't score in high efficiency (he shot 6-for-17 from the field), he had 23 points and seven assists, making sure that the Hawks had steady firepower during the 48 minutes.
Of course, the best-performing Hawk in Monday's game was Dejounte Murray, who made 13 of his 26 field goals (FGs) and five of his nine triples to score team-high 40 points in addition to eight rebounds and seven assists. When Young sat out the game, Murray was the team's only one who could change the opponents' defense via isolation. Not only did he target Lillard constantly on the offensive end, Murray also led the Hawks in free throw shooting (9-for-9).
Other games on Monday (away teams come first):
Paolo Banchero (C) of the Orlando Magic dunks in the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 30, 2023. /CFP
Orlando Magic 119-109 Philadelphia 76ers
Despite their 20-31 record, the Magic were never disappointing when they were playing against the top teams in both conferences. On Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they overcame a 20-point deficit to upset the East's third, the 76ers, ending their seven-game winning streak.
Paolo Banchero shot 11-for-22 from the field to get 29 points for the Magic. The 20-year-old rookie scored at least 20 points in 27 of the 44 games he has played so far during the 2022-23 campaign. Moritz Wagner contributed 22 points, the second-highest of the team, off the bench. He scored 14 of those points in the fourth quarter during which he drew three fouls by the opponents' franchise center Joel Embiid, making Embiid pull his punches in the rest of the game.
Stephen Curry (#30) of the Golden State Warriors drives toward the rim in the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 30, 2023. /CFP
Golden State Warriors 128-120 Oklahoma City Thunder
The "Splash Brothers," Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, combined to go 14-for-28 behind the arc and dropped 64 points for the Warriors to secure their third consecutive win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Monday. While he was providing the team's firepower, Curry also delivered 12 assists to get as many teammates as possible involved in offense.
Despite the loss, the Thunder gave the Warriors a bad headache as they rallied from an 18-point deficit in the first quarter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 21 of his 31 points in the second half. Josh Giddey shot 5-for-7 in FGs to get 12 points in the final quarter. Jalen Williams made all five of his shots in the fourth period to contribute 11 points.
Luka Doncic (#77) of the Dallas Mavericks drives toward the rim in the game against the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, January 30, 2023. /CFP
Detroit Pistons 105-111 Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks dodged the second loss in a row after Luka Doncic made 17 of his 24 FG attempts, five of his 11 triples and 14 of his 18 free throws to score 53 points at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Monday. He also delivered five assists, meaning that over half of the team's offensive productions came from Doncic.
In order to keep the Mavericks from losing to the East bottom-ranking Pistons, Doncic scored 20+points in one quarter (24 in the first one) for the fourth time this season; it was his fourth 50+points game in the 2022-23 campaign, more than anyone else; it was also the second-highest points for any Maverick in franchise history, behind only the 60 points he got in late December 2022.
Los Angeles Lakers 104-121 Brooklyn Nets
Sacramento Kings 118-111 Minnesota Timberwolves
Washington Wizards 127-106 San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors 106-114 Phoenix Suns