The NBA Naturally Made Damian Lillard Take A Blood Test Immediately After Dropping 71 Points On Sunday Night

Kevork Djansezian. Getty Images.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times this season. You need to be watching the NBA every night. If you're into seeing historic shit happen on a nightly basis, this is the league for you. One day it's the second highest scoring game in NBA history, the next day it's the 8th time a player has ever had 70+ in a real NBA game. What will it be tonight? No clue but I bet we get something, that's how insane the talent level is right now in the league.

When it comes to insane scoring performances, this is pretty much the league's M.O. though. How could we forget when the exact same thing happened to Donovan Mitchell earlier this season after his 71?

I guess the NBA hasn't realized yet that these guys are just that good offensively. With the talent increase, the rule changes, and the style changes, I'm starting to think Wilt's 100 might be in jeopardy at some point soon. My guess is we see it happen in an NBA game in our lifetimes, and I'm not sure if I've ever felt as confident in that as I do today.

So while the idea that a player goes off and then gets drug tested isn't new, it is pretty funny when you realize that Dame was already tested

Now I'm not a doctor and I also did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but I imagine blood tests are more accurate than piss tests. My only experience with piss test was back in college when I helped a buddy pass a drug test he needed for work by pissing in a condom and him taping it to his inner thigh before he went in for his test. It was a whole big thing…..but it worked. The key was we had to be quick enough to keep the temperature right. Man, those were the days.

This is also funny to me because if there's one guy in the league right now where nobody should be surprised if he drops 71 in a game, Dame is high on that list. This is what he does

I'd actually be shocked if Dame didn't get 71 in a game against the Rockets if we're being honest. With how he's playing in February? 

While knowing the Blazers need every win they can get to get into the Play In/Top 6? Against a Rockets team that is a complete disaster defensively going up against one of the most elite scorers in NBA history, 71 might have been low.

When it comes to Dame, the general public discourse around him is pretty fucked up. Nobody really cares what he does because they just scream RINNNGGGSZZZZZZ at him. People get on him for being loyal and potentially never winning a ring in POR, but then also turn around and cry about superteams in the NBA. That has to be pretty exhausting for him, but then I imagine he looks at his bank account and sees all the times the Blazers have given him a max extension and I doubt he gives a shit. He knows he won't get the "respect" he probably deserves in terms of recognition

I don't fully agree here since you know, he has 7x All Star and 6x All NBAs while also making the NBA's Top 75 team. That feels like some decent credit. But he is right when it comes to public opinion. Ring Culture has fucked up how people can sometimes look at sports, where you're basically dogshit if you don't win a title. There have been plenty of all time greats in the NBA who have never won a title, even after ring chasing late in their career. Dame has decided he wants to go down with the ship, why is that so bad?

To have those comments and then a few days later drop 71 and have things like this happen

You can kind of see his point.

The crazy part is Dame is capable of doing this again in the immediate future. The Blazers have some games like NO/ATL/ORL/DET up next, and none of those teams really play a lick of defense. Dame sees one go in early, he might have another drug test waiting for him after the game. That is of course unless the NBA realizes that this is just what Damian Lillard does, and it's been happening for years.