From December 26th to January 4th, Damian Lillard missed five straight games due to a severely sprained ankle. In his stead, running mate C.J. McCollum picked up the slack in the scoring and playmaking department.
McCollum has had a few big games in the last two weeks, but he was at his best in the Portland Trail Blazers' 95-89 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on New Year's night. In the game, the combo-guard scored a career-high 43 points on 16 of 25 shooting. That's 64% for those of you who don't like math.
That number balloons to 74.2% true shooting, which accounts for the fact that McCollum was 3 for 6 from beyond the arc and 8 of 9 from the line. As a result of this high efficiency, McCollum earned a nERD of 65.43 meanwhile accomplishing a feat no other Blazer ever has.
.@CJMcCollum's 43 points today are the most a @trailblazers player has ever scored in a game vs. Minnesota. #RipCity https://t.co/sRmEnUaMpM
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 2, 2017