Damian Lillard's first series-winning buzzer-beater needs a deep rewind | 2014 Blazers vs. Rockets

(dramatic beat) - It's May 2,

2014

. We're in Portland, Oregon, for game six of an incredibly 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 can stop him, they will host Game 7 in Houston. Before witnessing this moment, let's examine the history of this building, the feelings of these fans, the compelling characters that occupy the track, and the way they have been used for this crucial work. Let's go back. (suspense music) After falling behind early, Houston has made this a 3-2 series on the brink of a tie.

Each team has enjoyed a comfortable victory, but we have seen some real exciting moments, including the critical third game that Houston stole thanks to this game-

winning

safety from little-used Troy Daniels. -Daniels for three, he's hot! - The Rockets now hope to become one of the few teams to rally from a 3-1 series deficit, just as they did on their way to the 1995 title. Another series that goes to seven games would reinforce what they already have promises to be an incredible weekend of do-or-die basketball. Exactly what the NBA community

needs

to wash away the bitter taste of this awful Donald Sterling scandal in Los Angeles.

Still, the Blazers want to see all seven games this weekend, not play one. A double gives them extra time, with a triple they will advance immediately. The fans in this building couldn't be more nervous because it's been a while. (film reel whirring) Portland was used to competing. The franchise won a championship in its

first

decade of existence, in 1977, under legendary coach Dr. Jack Ramsay. Portland's

deep

est playoff runs in the 1980s came against the Magic and Kareem Lakers, but they reached two finals in the early 1990s. In 2000, the Blazers came tantalizingly close to beating Shaq and the Kobe Lakers only to fall in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

In short, every previous generation of Blazers fans were able to see the teams at least come close to

winning

. Hearts were broken, sure, but heartbreak first requires legitimate hope. That hope has diminished in recent years. The Trail

blazers

haven't won a playoff series since that conference final in 2000. 13 consecutive seasons without making it past the first round is the longest such drought in the NBA. Pretty wild. So that would be a big hurdle to overcome and it would be poetic to do it this week. Just a few days ago the iconic Jack Ramsay passed away. Coach Ramsay was a beloved part of the NBA community for many years after leading the champion Blazers.

These jersey patches are the Blazers' tribute to the late Dr. Jack. Ending the drought would be another nice tribute, but we are facing a multitude of hearts in our stomachs. Barring a miracle, this series returns to Houston and the Rockets would pick up a lot of momentum from them. That's the kind of progress they were hoping for when they added this guy. This boy needed help. (film reel whirring) The middling Rockets made a seismic trade for megastar James Harden in 2012. And his talent alone was enough to earn a postseason comeback, but that was it. Harden's old friends in Oklahoma City ousted Houston from the 2013 playoffs in six games.

That will happen when your supporting cast is this group of solid, but clearly secondary, players. Harden needed a co-star. And last summer, Houston general manager 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. Getting settled in Houston took some time, but under coach Kevin McHale, Harden and Howard's first season looked like a much better match. The Rockets' improvement included giving Dwight more of the ball, involving him more often and closer to the rim to create easy baskets, creating space for shooters, and creating one of the best offenses in the league.

And it's a good thing Dwight found the score for him because in this series, Harden hasn't been able to hit the wide side of a barn. Dr. Beardface has made just 38% of his field goals, including less than 30% from beyond the arc. Houston fell behind 3-1 in this series thanks in part to some real stinkers from Harden. The Rockets won Game 5 and extended the series to tonight because Harden deferred. Howard anchored the defense and led his team in scoring. Chandler Parsons made some 3-pointers and Jeremy Lin scored 21 points off the bench to offset a critical turnover in game four.

Tonight, Game 6 marks Harden's first efficient offensive performance in the series. But most of his points came early on. Until a few moments ago, the decisive moment was all Dwight. Howard's huge block on Thomas Robinson set up Harden's only basket of the fourth quarter. After that, it was Dwight who pretended to score on three Blazers. It was Dwight who lost Robin Lopez to do it again. It was Dwight turning left against Lopez to draw a foul and make both free throws. It was Dwight, again, dominating Lopez and again taking advantage of the line. Howard was the target of this post-timeout lob and made the hard left-handed shot.

Howard grabbed a loose ball and raced through the crowd to score 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 quarter. He scored those 13 in a row with just two of his typical missed free throws in between. But while Dwight kept Houston in this, we get to now with some other characters. If those nine-tenths of a second go right, Chandler Parsons will be a hero. He capped off a solid game, with many transitions and high rebounds, with one of the biggest setbacks of his life.

Harden missed a tough fadeaway and a mad scramble for the rebound somehow ended with Parsons in possession on a last-second reversal. But let's go back further because we shouldn't overlook that Houston only needed heroics because of an unforced error. Lin's three made with less than a minute left would have all but frozen Houston's victory, except big man Omer Asik committed this silly offensive foul to negate it. That was Asik's sixth disqualifying foul, so he's not here. Blazers ball, less than a second left, two-point game and Houston is missing a starting big man. Relevant because it seems that the first option for this bell is the great star of the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge.

He's been the man in Portland for nearly a decade, but this wasn't supposed to be a "the man" situation. After a few years in the basement, Portland began a turnaround on draft night in 2006. They made terrific trades to form the big-little tandem of the future, Texas' Aldridge and Washington's Brandon Roy. Roy, the ruthless scoring point guard, won Rookie of the Year in 2007 and quickly became an All-Star. Aldridge gradually improved into one of the league's most stable young big men. In 2008-09, the pair's third season, the Blazers turned a corner. An iconic moment came in November 2008, on the same court, in a similar situation against the same opponent as tonight.

On a drive-in play with less than a second left, coach Nate McMillan had Roy drive to the throw-in to catch and shoot these three safeties who rang the

buzzer

to win: There's Blake for Roy, this It's to win! (crowd raucously applauds) - Portland got as high as 54 wins, but came up short in a 2009 first-round series against those same Rockets. Even with the loss in the first round, 2009 seemed a step towards containment, towards the end of the drought. Instead, it marked high tide. Roy's knees deteriorated. His dwindling availability doomed the Blazers to further doom in the first round.

This led to Roy's early and heartbreaking retirement in 2011. Roy's premature farewell and Greg Oden's equally sad misadventures left Aldridge as the only star on a bad team. And Aldridge has truly become a force. That losing 2012 season started a streak of All-Star appearances for Aldridge that still continues. In this same series he has put together all-time great performances, especially in those first two road wins. In the first game: 46 points and 18 rebounds. In the second game: 43 points in only 28 attempts. When this guy hits his sweet spot, he's unstoppable. And if you had any doubts about where that sweet spot was, tonight we remind you.

Aldridge has stood on the left wing like a sentinel, destroying all defenders in his path, mainly Omer Asik. He gave Asik body for this first bucket, and made his forearm shake a little for another. He got Asik into early foul trouble with a quick one, then two quick ones. Asik guarded Aldridge again in the second quarter, but good luck stopping this mid-range magic. Get too close and that will be your third strike. -Aldridge is at the limit, he committed the foul. Oh! Aldridge again! (crowd applauding) - And you can commit a third strike too, Dwight. Aldridge cooled off a bit in the second half, but this third quarter graphic from ESPN emphasized that you don't want to let LaMarcus operate at all.

Well... ...well, right over here. Aldridge alone on the strong side, which happens to be his office, is a major task. Fortunately, the Rockets planned for that before it was too late. When the teams first prepared for this play, Coach McHale had Howard bothering attackman Nicolas Batum. With Asik fouled out, Harden was assigned to the much, much taller Aldridge. Parsons saw that and said, "Wait, wait. No, no, no." And he called time out. Fast forward to now and you have more sensible tasks. Tall Terrence Jones is in the game to cover the tackle. Aldridge is protected more appropriately by Howard and Dwight uses his strength to make this pass difficult, making you wonder what's going on here.

This is Damian Lillard, who at first seemed all casual with his head cocked and shoulders slumped until the whistle blew, and uh-oh, (film reel whirring) So yeah, when the Blazers really fell apart in 2012, they got a lottery selection. They weren't bad enough to have much of a chance at landing a sure thing like Anthony Davis and with the sixth pick, they selected a senior from a school most people haven't heard of. Damian Lillard received very little publicity as a high school prospect. That's how a kid from Oakland ended up playing point guard at Weber State University.

Even in Ogden, Utah, Lillard became the center of national attention. In his redshirt junior season, Lillard put up truly obscene scoring numbers. The deadliest point guard in the country was a Weber State Wildcat. And lest anyone attribute Lillard's collegiate excellence to inferior competition, Dame shredded like a buzzsaw during his first NBA season. Above Davis, Bradley Beal and Andre Drummond, Lillard was the unanimous Rookie of the Year in 2013. Here, in year two, the 23-year-old joined Aldridge on the All-Star team and helped lead the Blazers back to the postseason. Portland will never forget Aldridge's original co-star who once threw a dagger at these Rockets from here.

But Aldridge has a new friend and said new friend has already fulfilled his promise. Aldridge's powerful performance in the first game was almost in vain when he fouled out with a minute left in overtime. But Lillard fought off Patrick Beverley's great defense for an and-one to take the lead, then buried two more sharp ones to give Portland the lead in the final seconds. Lillard has averaged more than 25 points per game in his first playoff series, including noble efforts when Aldridge faltered in both losses. Damian Lillard is scary, which makes him interesting. On take two of this last play, Parsons began guarding Mo Williams, but it appears that Harden recommended a switch between Parsons and Beverley, the best defender on Houston's defense.

Parsons was the hero of the offense. He now took on the task of catching a man who had just transformed into a blur. If he and the Rockets can stop him, they will bring this super close series even closer. Adding another seventh game to this weekend, they will play at home for a chance to complete a rare three-game comeback. They will owe a lot of that return to Dwight Howard, James Harden's new co-star who has kept this team alive during some barren stretches since its leading scorer. Howard has taken over guarding Portland's leading scorer, but Aldridge also has a relatively new co-star, and that once-obscure prospect is now racing across screens looking for a chance at glory, a chance to end aplayoff drought unbecoming of a once-great franchise. .

Let's see what happens. Welcome to a moment in history. - ...and three wins the series. It's Lillard, he shot! Good! Good! (crowd screaming raucously) And the Blazers win the series for the first time in 14 years! (crowd applauding deliriously)