(dramatic heartbeat) - [Narrator] It's May 2nd, 2014. We're in Portland, Oregon for game six of an unbelievably tight
first round playoff series between the Trail Blazers
and the Houston Rockets. The Blazers have nine-tenths of a second to try to overcome a two point
deficit and win the series. If the Rockets get a stop, they'll host game seven in Houston. Before we witness this moment, let's examine the
history in this building, the feelings of these fans, the compelling characters
occupying the floor and the way they've been deployed for this crucial play. Let's rewind. (suspenseful music) After falling behind early, Houston has made this a 3-2
series on the verge of a tie. Each team has enjoyed
a comfortable victory, but we've seen some true nail-biters, including the critical
game three Houston stole thanks to this deep game winner from little used Troy Daniels. - [Commentator] Daniels
for three, it's good! - [Narrator] The Rockets now hope to become one of the few
teams ever to recover from a 3-1 series deficit,
just like they did en route to the 1995 title. Yet another series reaching seven games would bolster what already
promises to be an amazing weekend of do-or-die basketball. Exactly what the NBA
community needs to wash away the sour taste of this hideous Donald Sterling scandal in Los Angeles. Anyway, the Blazers want to
watch games seven this weekend not play one. A two-pointer buys them overtime, with a three they'll advance immediately. The fans in this building
could not be more on edge because it's been a while. (film reel whirring) Portland was accustomed to contending. The franchise won a championship within its first decade of existence, in 1977 under legendary
coach Dr. Jack Ramsay. Portland's deepest playoff
runs of the eighties, crashed into the Magic and Kareem Lakers, but they made two finals
appearances in the early nineties. In 2000, the Blazers
came tantalizingly close to beating the Shaq and Kobe Lakers only to fall in game seven of
the Western Conference finals. In short, every prior
generation of Blazers fan got to see teams at least
approach winning at all. Hearts got broke, sure, but heartbreak first
requires legitimate hope. That hope has diminished in recent years. The Trailblazers have
not won a playoff series since that Conference final run in 2000. 13 straight seasons without
clearing the first round is the longest such drought in the NBA. Pretty wild. So that would be a big hump to overcome, and it would be poetic to do it this week. Just days ago, the iconic
Jack Ramsay passed away. Coach Ramsay was a beloved
part of the NBA community for many years after he
led those champion Blazers. These jersey patches
are the Blazers' tribute to the late Dr. Jack. Ending the drought would
be another lovely tribute, but you're looking at a whole
crowd of hearts in stomachs. Barring a miracle, this series
is headed back to Houston and the Rockets would take
a lot of momentum with them. That's the kind of progress they expected when they added this guy. This guy needed help. (film reel whirring) The middling Rockets made a seismic trade for mega star James Harden in 2012. And his talent alone was enough to carry a post-season
return, but that was all. Harden's old friends in Oklahoma City, booted Houston out of the
2013 playoffs in six games. That'll happen when your supporting cast is this bunch of solid, but
clearly secondary players. Harden needed a co-star. And this past summer, Houston
GM Daryl Morey got him one. All star big man Dwight
Howard was ready for a move after just one pathetic,
cantankerous season as an LA Laker. He and Kobe Bryant never
clicked, not even close. Settling into Houston took some time, but under coach Kevin McHale season one of Harden and Howard looked like a much better pairing. The Rockets' improvement included getting Dwight the ball more,
involving him more often and closer to the rim
to create easy baskets, to create space for shooters, to create one of the
league's top offenses. And it's a good thing
Dwight found his scoring because in this series, Harden hasn't been able to
hit the broad side of a barn. Dr. Beardface has connected on
just 38% of his field goals, including sub 30% beyond the arc. Houston fell behind 3-1 in this series thanks in part to some
true Harden stinkers. The Rockets took game five
and extended the series into tonight because Harden deferred. Howard anchored the defense
and led his team in scoring. Chandler Parsons made some threes and Jeremy Lin dropped
21 points off the bench to compensate for a
critical game four turnover. Tonight, game six, marks Harden's first efficient offensive
performance of the series. But most of his points came early on. until moments ago, crunch
time was all Dwight. Howard's huge run stopping
block on Thomas Robinson set up Harden's only basket
of this fourth quarter. After that it was Dwight pump faking to score over three Blazers. It was Dwight losing Robin
Lopez to do it again. It was Dwight spinning left
against Lopez to draw a foul and sink both free throws. It was Dwight, again, overpowering Lopez, and again cashing in from the line. Howard was the target
for this post timeout lob and made the tough lefty finish. Howard snatched a loose ball and blasted through a crowd for two and the foul. Houston would be long dead if Dwight didn't score 26 points tonight, including 13 of the
team's 19 in the fourth. He dropped those 13 all in a row with just two of his typical
missed free throws in between. But while Dwight kept Houston in it, we got all the way to right
now with some other characters. If these nine-tenths of a second go well, Chandler Parsons will be a hero. He capped off a solid,
transition-heavy, high rebound game with one of the biggest
put-backs of his life. Harden missed a tough fade-away and a mad scramble for the rebound somehow ended with Parsons in possession noodling in a last second reverse. But rewind further because
we shouldn't neglect that Houston only needed heroics
because of an unforced error. Lin's banked-in three
with under a minute to go would have all but iced
the Houston victory, except big guy Omer Asik
committed this foolish offensive foul to negate it. That was Asik's sixth, disqualifying foul, so he's not out here. Blazers' ball, less than a
second to go, two point game, and Houston's missing a starting big man. Relevant because it looks
like the first option for this buzzer beater is big Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge. He's been the guy in Portland
for almost a decade now, but this wasn't supposed to
be a "the guy" situation. After some years in the basement, Portland began a turnaround
on draft night 2006. They swung superb trades to form their big-small
tandem of the future, Aldridge from Texas and
Washington's Brandon Roy. Roy, the merciless scoring guard, won Rookie of the Year in '07 and quickly became an All-Star. Aldridge improved gradually to become one of the league's
steadiest young bigs. In '08-09, the third season of the pairing, the Blazers turned a corner. An early signature moment
came in November '08 on the same floor in a similar situation against the same opponent as tonight. On an inbound play with
less than a second to go, coach Nate McMillan had Roy
flash toward the inbounder to catch and fire this
deep buzzer-beating three for the win - [Commentator] There's Blake
to Roy, this is for the win! (crowd cheers raucously) - [Narrator] Portland
rode that high to 54 wins, but fell short in a
2009 first round series against those same Rockets. Even with first round defeat, 2009 looked like a step toward contention, toward ending the drought. It instead marked high water.
Roy's knees deteriorated. His diminishing availability
consigned the Blazers to more first round doom. It led Roy to an early
heartbreaking retirement in 2011. Roy's premature farewell and the equally sad
misadventures of Greg Oden left Aldridge as the
lone star on a bad team. And Aldridge really has become a force. That losing 2012 season began a streak of All-Star appearances for
Aldridge that's still going. In this very series he's posted some all-time great performances, especially in those first two road wins. In game one: 46 points and 18 rebounds. In game two: 43 points on just 28 attempts. When this dude settles
into his sweet spot, he is unstoppable. And if you had any doubt
where that sweet spot was, tonight gave you a reminder. Aldridge has towered over the
left wing like a sentinel, destroying all defenders in his path, mostly Omer Asik. He bodied Asik for this early bucket, kinda forearm-shivered
Asik for another one. He got Asik in early foul
trouble with a quick one, then a quick two. Asik returned to guard
Aldridge in the second quarter, but good luck stopping
this mid range magic. get too close, and that's your third foul. - [Commentator] Aldridge's
on the edge, got the foul. Oh! Aldridge again! (crowd cheering) - [Narrator] And you can
have a third foul too Dwight. Aldridge cooled a bit in the second half, but this ESPN graphic in the third quarter hammered home the place you absolutely do not want to let
LaMarcus operate. Right... ...well, right around here. Aldridge alone on the strong side, which happens to be his office,
is an important assignment. The Rockets thankfully planned around that before it was too late. When the teams first set up for this play coach McHale had Howard pestering the inbounder Nicolas Batum. With Asik fouled out,
that left Harden assigned to the much, much taller Aldridge. Parsons got to look at that and said, "hold up, hold up. No, no,
no". And called time out. Fast forward to right now, and you've got more sensible assignments. The tall-ish Terrence Jones is in the game to cover the inbound. Aldridge is guarded more
appropriately by Howard and Dwight's using his strength
to make this pass difficult, which makes one wonder
what's going on over here. This is Damian Lillard, who at first, looked all casual with his head cocked and his shoulders slumped
until the whistle blew, and uh-oh, (film reel whirring) So yeah, when the Blazers
truly fell apart in 2012, they got a lottery pick. They weren't bad enough
to have much chance of snagging a sure
thing like Anthony Davis and with the sixth pick,
drafted an upperclassman from a school most
people haven't heard of. Damian Lillard got very little hype as a high school prospect. That's how an Oakland kid ended up playing point guard for
Weber State University. Even in Ogden, Utah, Lillard bloomed into the national spotlight. In his red shirt junior season, Lillard put up truly
obscene scoring numbers. The deadliest point guard in the nation was a Weber State Wildcat. And lest anyone attribute
Lillard's college excellence to inferior competition, Dame shredded like a buzzsaw
through his first NBA season. Over Davis, over Bradley
Beal, over Andre Drummond, Lillard was unanimous
2013 Rookie of the Year. Here in year two, the 23
year old joined Aldridge on the All-Star team, and
helped get the Blazers back here into the postseason. Portland will never forget
Aldridge's original co-star who once chucked a dagger
through these Rockets from right about here. But Aldridge has a new
buddy and said new buddy has already delivered in the clutch. Aldridge's mighty game one performance almost went for naught when he fouled out with a minute to go in overtime. But Lillard fought off Patrick
Beverley's great defense for an and one to take the
lead, then buried two more steely ones to give Portland
the edge in the final seconds. Lillard has averaged
over 25 points per game in his first playoff series,
including noble efforts when Aldridge faltered in the two losses. Damian Lillard is scary,
which makes this interesting. On take two of this final play, Parsons started guarding Mo Williams, but it appears Harden recommended a switch between Parsons and Beverley, Houston's best backcourt defender. Parsons was the hero on offense, Now he's assumed the
task of catching a man who just morphed into a blur. If he and the Rockets can get a stop, they draw this super
close series, even closer. Adding another game seven to this weekend, they'll play at home for a chance to complete a rare three-game comeback. They'll owe a lot of that
comeback to Dwight Howard, James Harden's new co-star
who's kept this team alive during some barren stretches
from their top scorer. Howard has taken over guarding
the top Portland scorer, but Aldridge too has a
relatively new co-star, and that once obscure prospect is now speeding around
screens for one shot at glory, one shot to end a playoff drought unbecoming of a once great franchise. Let's see what happens. Welcome to a moment in history. - [Commentator] ...and
three wins the series. It's Lillard, he got the shot off! Good! Good! (crowd screaming raucously) And the Blazers win the series for the first time in 14 years! (crowd cheering deliriously)
God I love sad Dwight after that shot goes in.
No it doesn't
I can't believe that was 6 years ago. Time flies.
With Dame out this is such a nice pick-me-up for SB Nation to post. Absolutely me of the best channels on YouTube
Perfect basketball movie. 7.5/10. Lmao imagine if this actually happened in real life
Disagreed, how about we forgot that happened
Fuck I forgot Dwight played for the rockets.
“Damian Lillard's second series-winning buzzer-beater needs a deep rewind“
Dame will go down in history for having two of these