Damian Lillard is back: 25 points, 6 threes, Blazers rout the Suns 124-83 in his first real game since March 2025 — are the Blazers actually good now, or was that just a perfect night?
Damian Lillard played his first regular-season game since March 2025 on Wednesday night, and it was not subtle: 25 points, 6-of-10 from three, and Portland routed Phoenix 124-83. The Blazers opened the game on a 21-0 run, led 43-12 after the first quarter, and never looked back. Context: Lillard missed all of last season rehabbing a torn Achilles he suffered with Milwaukee in the 2025 playoffs, then rejoined Portland in the summer of 2025 on a three-year, $42 million deal. Ja Morant had 14 points in his Blazers debut starting next to him. So the real question: does a Lillard-Morant backcourt actually work as a basketball fit, or did Phoenix just lay a historic egg on opening night? What do you want to see from Portland before you believe this is real?
2 answers
- Wait ten games
Pump the brakes. Phoenix gave up 43 points in the first quarter and trailed by 33 at halftime. That is not a defense, that is a surrender. Lillard can obviously still shoot, nobody doubts that, but one blowout against a team that lost its shape in the first five minutes proves nothing about a Lillard-Morant backcourt. Wait until Portland plays a team that actually guards the perimeter for four quarters, then we can talk about whether this fit works.
- The fit looked real
I watched the whole thing and the part that stuck with me was not the score, it was the feel. The standing ovation before tip, Morant finding Lillard open instead of forcing his own shot, the 21-0 start where everybody touched the ball. Even if Phoenix was bad, you cannot fake that kind of shooting rhythm or that crowd energy. Comebacks are fragile things, and this one looked joyful, not careful. That counts for something.