PORTLAND — If Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard had dribbled up on any other center, it would have been a mismatch. But he was approaching Nerlens Noel.
Lillard surveyed his options dribbling in place, and then Noel reached out and popped the ball up and out of his hands. Lillard turned to ask for a foul, but Noel had already secured the ball in both hands, cocking it behind his head to throw a pass three quarters the length of the court.
There Russell Westbrook ran onto it, dribbled once and dropped a dunk into the hoop.