NBA Playoffs 2018-19: 3 Talking points from NBA Playoffs - April 24th - Lillard Eliminates OKC and More

It was a night to remember in NBA's postseason history for a long time to come. Housing four first round matchups, three of them resulted in eliminations while the Spurs-Nuggets series lived through for one more game at the very least.

The Trailblazers eliminated OKC via a 118-115 win in Game 5 as the Raptors sent Orlando packing as well through a 115-96 rout of their own. The Nuggets took a 3-2 lead in the series over San Antonio while the Sixers moved on to the next round after man-handling Brooklyn 122-100 in the deciding Game 5.

Let's discuss some of the prominent talking points from the most recent postseason clashes of this year.

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#1 Damian Lillard took it on himself to banish Brodie and his Thunder

Dame had the last laugh in a series filled with trash talk and mocking

With the Thunder facing elimination on the road, Lillard took charge of the situation from the word go and never took his foot off the gas. He played for the whole 24 minutes in the first half and dropped 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting, which turned out to be the highest scoring half since Steve Nash in 2005.

He ended the game with 10 three-pointers (franchise record), one of which was a 37-foot bomb in the final seconds to seal the game and the series for his team. Spending a total of 45 minutes on the court, Lillard finished with a game-high total of 50 points on 17-of-33 shooting from the floor, along with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals as well.

With this performance of a lifetime, Dame surpassed his previous career-playoff high of 40 set against the Warriors in 2016. He single-handedly carried his team to their first trip to the Western Conference semifinals since 2016, after having being swept in the first round by the Warriors and Pelicans for the past two years.

"The series was over. That was it. I was just waving goodbye to them," Lillard said when asked about his reaction following the buzzer beater game winner.

#2 Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers move on in five games

The Raptors will face the Sixers in the second round.

Both the teams sealed the series on their respective home courts and moved on to the next level - which would be the Eastern Conference Semifinals - to clash against each other in a 7-game series.

Kawhi scored a game-high total of 27 points, aided by his teammate Pascal Siakam who contributed 24 points of his own as the Raptors took care of business in Game 5. Orlando Magic showed heart but their effort and talent fell short when it came to beating the second seed Toronto.

Meanwhile, the chippy Sixers-Nets series met its end when Philly ended the Nets' glory run once and for all via a dominant 122-100 win in Game 5. Embiid recorded yet another double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds as Dudley and his Nets were shown the exits.

#3 Was Dame's 37-footer buzzer beater game-winner a 'bad shot'?

Damian Lillard

With the game tied at 115-115 and less than 10 seconds left in the game, Lillard squared up with Paul George nearly 37 feet from the rim. With 2 seconds remaining, Dame took a stepback trademark logo Lillard three-pointer which went in as the clock expired.

“That’s a bad, bad shot,” George said of the long three-pointer, in the postgame press conference. “I don’t care what anybody says. That’s a bad shot. But hey, he made it. That story won’t be told that it was a bad shot. We live with that.”

Despite putting aside the sore loser argument, George's statement about the classic game-winner doesn't seem to make sense. And we have stats to back that up. According to ESPN's Kirk Goldsberry,

As a whole, the league made just 25.9 percent of shots from that distance (30 to 40 feet), so it's fair to say that for most dudes, shots from that range aren't very "good." Lillard isn't most dudes. He sank 39.2 percent of his shots from 30 to 40 feet this season.

Clearly, it is players like Stephen Curry, Trae Young, Damian Lillard that are redifining the claims of a good or bad shot with their ridiculous range. Therefore, in modern day NBA basketball, in order to ascertain whether it's a good shot or bad shot, you have to take into account who's shooting the ball.

Here is your ultimate @Dame_Lillard game winning shot compilation video #ripcity pic.twitter.com/eyC3dvb7md

— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) April 24, 2019