SAN FRANCISCO -- Damian Lillard drilled a 3 as time expired, lifting Portland to a 99-98 Game 6 win that eliminated the Houston Rockets in their Western Conference quarterfinals Friday night.
Lillard's heroics handed the Blazers a 4-2 series clincher, sending them to the second round of the playoffs where they will play either the No.1 ranked San Antonio Spurs or the No.8 seeded Dallas Mavericks.
"It hurts...it's a tough pill to swallow," Rockets center Dwight Howard, who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, told NBA.com after the game.
The defeat was an extremely crushing one for the Rockets, who took a 98-96 lead after Chandler Parsons converted a layup with 0.9 seconds left. Game 7 would have been at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Lillard's game-winning 3 was his sixth of the game. He finished with 25 points while teammate LaMarcus Aldridge recorded 30 and 13 boards. Brooke Lopez and Wesley Matthews finished with 13 each for Portland.
"It was a hell of a win. I don't know it could have been any more dramatic," head coach Terry Stotts said after the Blazers won a playoffs series for the first time since 2000.
James Harden led all scorers with 34, Parsons had 16 while Jeremy Lin accounted for 11 points. Houston made only 34 of 75 field goals (45.3 percent) and 7-for-19 from the field (36.8 percent). (RSM)
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