NBA 2018-19: Top 3 performers on November 18, 2018

The Sunday night was filled with some exciting NBA action and we had a five-game slate that saw some players have monster performances. In Minnesota, Butler-less T-Wolves fell to the Memphis Grizzlies, behind a double-double performance from Marc Gasol.

We go to Miami and LeBron exploded for his first 50-point game this season and the Lakers rolled past the Heat to get back to winning ways. In Orlando, the Magic took care of business winning against the Knicks in an emphatic fashion.

The Washington Wizards' struggles continued as they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers at home. In San Antonio, the short-handed Warriors lost to the Spurs with strong double-double performance from LaMarcus Aldridge. Let us take a look at three star performers on the night.

#3 Damian Lillard

Lillard scored 40 points to lift the Blazers over Wizards

Stat line: 40 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal on 41.3 % shooting

Damian Lillard has been scoring heavily from the start of the season and the Blazers are at the top of the Western Conference standings with an 11-5 record. In the game against the Wizards, Lillard registered his third 40-point game this season and took the Blazers home.

In the first quarter, with 7:10 remaining, Lillard knocked down a three-pointer off the dribble to extend the Blazers' lead to 11 points. He was aggressive and slashed hard at the rim on several occasions. However, Damian was not very efficient from the field and went 12-for-29 to finish with 40 points, to go along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Thanks to his aggressive approach, he attempted 15 free-throws and converted 13 of those. CJ McCollum had 25 points on 9-16 shooting and the Blazers won the game, 119-109. With this loss, the Wizards have now slipped to 5-11 on the season.

#2 Nikola Vucevic

Stat line: 28 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocks on 66.6 % shooting

The Orlando Magic were on the second night of a back-to-back and Vucevic who scored 36 points, just a night before, once again came up alive and scored 28 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, falling one assist short of a triple-double.

In the first quarter, the Magic jumped to an early lead and at the 8:26 mark, Vucevic hit a mid-range jumper over Mitchell Robinson to extend the Magic's lead to 10 points. He used his court-vision and kept finding teammates to collect assists.

With 2:46 remaining in the second quarter, he knocked down an open three-pointer to extend the Magic's lead to eight points. The Knicks' defenders could not stop Vucevic and he finished the night on 10-for-15 shooting. He was also perfect from the free-throw line going fo 6-for-6 and the Magic beat the Knicks, 131-117.

#1 LeBron James

LeBron James dropped 51 points to help the Lakers defeat the Heat

Stat line: 51 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block on 61.3 % shooting

LeBron James was on absolute fire last night and torched the Miami Heat. James started the game with a windmill dunk on a fastbreak, before following it up with a deep three-pointer to extend the Lakers' lead to seven.

He was red-hot in the first quarter, scored 19 points and the Lakers finished the quarter strong with a 34-21 lead. With the Lakers up 59-49 towards the end of second quarter, James slammed one home to extend the lead to 12 points.

James finished the first half with 28 points. When the Lakers came back for the third quarter, it was all James' show again as he scored 14 points in the quarter and the Lakers were up 92-76 after the end of three quarters.

James finished the night on19-for-31 shooting, including a ridiculous 6-for-8 from the three-point line to score 51 points. He also had 8 rebounds to go along with 3 assists and the Lakers improved to 9-7 on the season.