Damian Lillard’s ridiculously deep three-pointers can’t be defended

The Chicago Bulls looked like they were going to complete another massive comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night. After the Bulls erased a 20-point deficit to steal a win against the Blazers earlier this month, Chicago had now overcome what was a 19-point Portland lead to take control of the game in the rematch.

The Bulls led by five points with 11 seconds left after Coby White made two free throws. That’s when Damian Lillard decided to briefly transcend his human form and ascend to a higher plane of existence.

The Blazers advanced the ball to halfcourt with a timeout and inbounded the ball to Lillard. He pulled up from 37-feet and drained it to cut the Chicago lead to two.

Portland trapped Zach LaVine in the corner of the court as Chicago inbounded the ball. A jump ball was called with six seconds left. If the Bulls won the tip, they would have a chance to nail down the win at the foul line.

The Bulls did not win the tip.

Lillard did it again, this time with a filthy side-step to shake 7-footer Lauri Markkanen before he fired a leaning three-pointer for the win.

While the last two shots from Lillard will grab the headlines, he was going supernova as a shooter throughout the second half.

After shooting 1-for-6 from three in the first half, Lillard got hot and stayed hot. He was pulling up from all over the floor and there was nothing the Bulls could do to stop it. This one was credited as 33-foot bomb.

This shot was officially marked down as a 26-footer but looks much deeper than that:

Even his non-threes were nasty. Poor Marrkanen is going to be having nightmares about Dame Time for months:

Dame has been living up to the nickname “Logo Lillard” for a while. While Stephen Curry remains the game’s most dangerous shooter and inarguably the greatest three-point threat in NBA history, Lillard really isn’t all that far behind.

Lillard told head coach Terry Stotts he was going to start shooting from halfcourt this season. Anyone who watched him in the bubble knows it isn’t outside of his range.

Here’s hoping Lillard keeps pushing the boundaries of normal shot taking. Few players are more fun to watch than Dame when he gets going.

Lillard finished with 44 points and nine assists on 8-of-17 shooting from deep. The Blazers got a win to keep up in the Western Conference standings while C.J. McCollum is sidelined with a leg injury.

The Bulls played hard and played well, but the team had one major problem on Saturday night: they didn’t have Damian Lillard. When Dame is on like that, there is simply no way to stop him.