Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard: Heater continues Sunday

Lillard finished with 40 points (10-17 FG, 4-9 3Pt, 16-16 FT), six assists, three rebounds and one steal across 37 minutes in Sunday's 140-123 win over the Mavericks.

Lillard came up huge during the Trail Blazers' weekend back-to-back set with the Mavericks, scoring more than one point per minute (76 in 66) while shooting a robust 56.8 percent from the field and going 26 of 26 from the free-throw line. While Lillard won't be able to sustain this level of performance -- he also popped for a season-high 50 points in a loss to the Cavaliers in the game prior to the back-to-back set -- the veteran point guard has at least safely quieted any concerns about his ability to return to elite form following an injury-shortened 2021-22 campaign.