What a game! Before we talk about anything from Game 5 of this first-round NBA playoff series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets, can we give a round of applause for how good this playoff game was and how legendary Damian Lillard was in this game!?

Make sure you are sitting down and make sure you are not drinking anything right now because what I am about to tell you is surely going to make you double take and spit your drink out! The Nuggets ultimately won Game 5 of this series to take a 3-2 lead over the Blazers, but it took double overtime for Denver to win because Damian Lillard scored 55 points!

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Lillard scored 55 points in Game 5’s loss and he did so taking just 24 shots. 28 of Lillard’s 55 total points came from the fourth quarter on and of his NBA Playoff Record 12 made three-pointers, one of them came with 3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and one of them came with 6.6 seconds left in overtime to force double overtime! 

This was a performance for the ages for Damian Lillard and while his team came up short, his performance in Game 5 of this series will forever go down as one of the best playoff performances of all-time. 

With their backs up against the wall now, Portland faces a tall task of having to win Game 6 at home and then Game 7 in Denver in order to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the fourth time in the last eight seasons. 

With that said, let’s dive in and take a look at the three biggest takeaways from Game 5 between the Blazers and Nuggets in order to see what both teams can learn heading into what we assume will be a very eventful Game 6.