Plumlee Records Rare Stat Line in Game 3 Win over Clippers

Portland Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee had six points, 21 rebounds and nine assists in Saturday's 96-88 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, becoming the first player since Kevin Garnett in April 2004 to record 20+ boards and nine or more dimes in a single NBA playoff game, per the Trail Blazers' PR twitter account.

Plumlee also became the first Trail Blazer to pick up 20 rebounds in a postseason game since 1985, when Sam Bowie had exactly 20 in a first-round game against the Dallas Mavericks during his rookie season, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Though best known as one of the biggest mistakes in NBA Draft history, Bowie—who was famously selected one spot ahead of Michael Jordan—did play a big part in helping Portland reach the Western Conference Semifinals in his first campaign. He averaged 10.0 points, 8.6 boards and 2.7 blocks during the regular season, followed by 7.3 points, 8.4 boards and 2.3 blocks in nine playoff appearances.

The 26-year-old Plumlee isn't in Bowie's league as a shot-blocker, but he's arguably been Portland's best player through the first three games of the team's ongoing series against Los Angeles.

After putting up just four points and five rebounds in a Game 1 loss, Plumlee bounced back strong with 17 points, 10 boards and seven assists in another loss in Game 2, then posted an unusual 6-21-9 stat line in Saturday's Game 3 win.

Of course, Plumlee is still just a complementary player for the guard-dependent Blazers, as the team will need huge performances from its starting backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in order to have any shot of overcoming the initial 2-0 series deficit.