On this day in 2019, the Oklahoma City Thunder were sent home by the Portland Trail Blazers following a five-game first-round series loss.
Damian Lillard clinched the series win by hitting a near-midcourt 3-pointer on Paul George to hit the game-winning shot. The deep 3-pointer is one of the most memorable playoff moments in league history — Lillard self-proclaimed it as his favorite playoff moment too.
On this day in 2019… Dame buried this iconic series-clincher! pic.twitter.com/cnHFUqGLtF
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) April 23, 2023
The shot was a franchise-altering one for the Thunder. This was the final game that franchise icon Russell Westbrook played for OKC after 11 seasons with the Thunder.
Three months after the shot, the Thunder decided to start over by trading away Paul George to the LA Clippers and Westbrook to the Houston Rockets.
Both trades gave the Thunder a historical amount of draft picks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who is set to likely make his first All-NBA First Team this season following averaging 31.4 points on 62.6 true-shooting percentage.
While it stung at the moment, Lillard’s shot did more good than harm for the Thunder as it capitulated them to one of the best starting points of a rebuild ever.
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers have been stuck in mediocrity with no real direction four years later. Funny enough, both the Thunder (130-178) and Trail Blazers (137-173) have similar regular season records since the shot.
