Damian Lillard

Even on a night in which his versatility and intangible factor trumped his scoring, Damian Lillard, predictably, still found time to schedule “Dame Time” into the game’s itinerary. Left to watch as their 15-point fourth-quarter lead is cut to just six, the Milwaukee Bucks star gets imaginative after his first attempt to shake free of a larger defender fails. Receiving the ball back immediately with only four seconds to work with, Lillard introduces the Minnesota Timberwolves to his generationally-great clutch gene, floating his way into an off-balanced 28-foot dagger to hush the once-hopeful crowd. Testing his mettle against a team that entered as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, Lillard performed admirably in the Playoff-type atmosphere with 21 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, and one block, fueling a victory on February 23, 2024.