Damian Lillard’s 61 points saved Portland’s season — and evoked memories of a lost loved one

Standing one step in from the center court logo and a few steps in from the left sideline, Lillard picked up his dribble and surveyed his options as the shot clock ticked down under five seconds. With Portland trailing by three and 1.32 seconds left in the game, Lillard uncorked a deep three that hit the heel of the rim and kicked straight up. The carom carried the basketball above the top of the backboard and then above the top of shot clock before it splashed through the net cleanly upon its descent.

“I shot it real straight,” Lillard said, crediting the shot to heavenly intervention. “I thought it was going to go in. When it hit back rim and went straight up, I kept watching it. I think that’s going to go in. It dropped in. I think that was my cousin, Rest in Peace ‘Chef B.’ I think that was him dropping that in for me.”

Brandon Johnson, Lillard’s cousin and personal chef, died in the Portland area during the NBA’s hiatus. Lillard told reporters Tuesday that he had expected Johnson — “Chef B” — to come to his house to prepare breakfast. When Johnson didn’t show up, Lillard went to Johnson’s house, where he found his cousin dead. Blazers guard CJ McCollum, Lillard’s longtime teammate and close friend, also arrived at the scene.

“[Johnson] had just passed,” Lillard said. “I was able to get there and say my goodbyes. He laid there. They put him in a peaceful place. We prayed over his body and said our goodbyes. CJ came, [Johnson] was tight with CJ as well. Me and CJ cried together, that’s also part of our brotherhood.”

Lillard, 30, called Johnson his “right-hand man,” noting that the chef was devoted to Lillard’s diet and well-being and that they would travel together during the offseason. In an Instagram tribute posted in May, Lillard said that Johnson was “the most solid and most genuine man” and that they would “sit and talk … every day.”

“Losing him hurt,” Lillard said. “He was my first cousin that was that close to me that passed away. It was tough. I just try to continue what I think he would want me to do. I’ve been dealing with it that way, on a path that I know he was proud of.”

After the game-tying three-pointer, Lillard took a charge and passed to Hassan Whiteside for a go-ahead dunk. McCollum sealed the win with a pair of free throws. Carmelo Anthony, who scored 26 points and hit two clutch threes down the stretch, pointed to Lillard’s bouncing three as the key to Portland’s 7-1 closing run.

“I probably said about 20 pleases — please, please, please — repeatedly,” Anthony said, when asked for his thought process when Lillard’s shot was in the air. “It wasn’t meant for us to lose when that shot went in.”

Lillard’s performance, which came on the heels of a 51-point outburst against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, kept the Blazers in control of their destiny. With a loss Tuesday, Portland, which is in a four-team dogfight for the two spots in the Western Conference’s play-in round, would have fallen behind the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs.

The scoring outburst also moved Lillard into elite company, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to record three 60-point games in the same season. Chamberlain had 15 60-point games in 1962 and nine in 1963. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, James Harden all each had two 60-point games in the same season. Lillard joined Chamberlain (32), Bryant (6), Jordan (4), Harden (4) and Elgin Baylor (3) as the only players in NBA history with at least three 60-point games, and he became the first Blazers player to score 50 points in two consecutive games.

Blazers Coach Terry Stotts argued that Lillard’s 61-point night belongs next to his 50-point effort to eliminate the Thunder in 2019 on the list of the all-star’s best games. But Stotts added that he wanted no part of the credit.

“The season was on the line,” he said. “The best way I can help [Lillard] is put him in [good] situations. I help where I can, but that was Dame’s night.”