Tuesday night's NBA schedule featured a whopping four playoff games, but the way the first three went, it felt more like a random night in January. The Raptors closed out the Magic by 19, the Sixers did the same to the Nets by 22 and the Nuggets went up 3-2 on the Spurs with an 18-point win.
Thankfully, the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder showed up to save the night. Together, they produced an instant classic, that included a record-setting 34-point performance from Damian Lillard, a combined 65 points, 20 rebounds and 17 assists from Paul George and Russell Westbrook, a 15-point fourth-quarter comeback by the Blazers, and finally, one of the most legendary shots in playoff history.
That's right, Lillard did it again. In 2014, he sent the Houston Rockets packing with a series-ending buzzer beater in Game 6 of their first-round series. On Tuesday night, he brought the Thunder's season to a close by doing the same thing. And then he waved goodbye as they walked off the court.
🗣M 🗣V 🗣P 🗣 pic.twitter.com/iu9Rz77UyQ
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) April 24, 2019
Lillard finished with 50 points on the night, putting together one of the best playoff performances of all-time. Understandably, NBA Twitter absolutely lost it. First, there was hysteria.
akudfhjalksfjd;aioefj;aiejf;aiweljf;ailekjf'aoeijf;aehwf;aeha;wefj;aowijfeao;'eijwf;aoe'ijwf;aeiowfja;efja;ewifjk;alejaefwff
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) April 24, 2019
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME ??????????? 😱🤯😱🤯
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) April 24, 2019
God DAME!!!
— Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) April 24, 2019
— Cole Zwicker (@colezwicker) April 24, 2019
Wow!!@Dame_Lillard #NBAPlayoffs2019
— Caron Butler (@realtuffjuice) April 24, 2019
I love this s#*%‼️
ARE YOU SERIOUS. WHAT WHAT WHAT
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) April 24, 2019
Here's the Korean call of Lillard's game-winning three-pointer. It's as electric as you'd expect! (Call from SpoTV) pic.twitter.com/mJWbSzoOAi
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) April 24, 2019
And then the memes started rolling in.
When gifs grow up. pic.twitter.com/Ekz1jRLX3U
— Jimmy Spencer (@JimmySpencerUN) April 24, 2019
A real life version of "Game...blouses." pic.twitter.com/bGRFdsNwLC
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 24, 2019
PEOPLE: I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE BLAZ—
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 24, 2019
DAMIAN LILLARD: pic.twitter.com/asji8PmhdK
Dame Lillard and Steph Curry ending the Oklahoma City Thunder with game winning threes from 9 trillion feet away pic.twitter.com/sI7MXBfVjo
— Stri:(a (@StrikaNation24_) April 24, 2019
It's safe to say this won't be a moment anyone -- on or offline -- forgets for a long time.