If you’re a Portland Trail Blazers fan like I am, you undoubtedly have to be impressed by the game Andre Miller had against the Mavericks on Saturday night. Miller scored 52 points and willed the Blazers to the win in Big D for the second time in a row.

In case you missed it, here’s a shot-by-shot video account of Miller’s scoring outburst.

This is impressive for four reasons:

1. Miller is 6’2″ — my height — and he jumps about as high as I do as well, which is to say that the man flat out cannot jump to save his own life. He also has a very awkward-looking shot, with the release point being somewhere extended in front of his head. All those factors conspiring against him, he still hit insane shot after insane shot and got his due.

2. He shot 22-for-31 from the field. With one of those being three-pointers, that means he scored 45 of his points during live game action and not at the line. That is incredible. Most other people you would see with a 50-plus point game earned a good portion of those at the line. Not Miller.

3. Brandon Roy is out, and so is Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla. With the Juwan Howard-Erick Dampier matchup in the post being a wash, LaMarcus Aldridge continuing to be his soft self (even while matched up against Dirk Nowitzki!!!!!!), and Rudy having a bad night, Miller was almost forced to take control of the game. That he did, exploiting matchups against Jason Kidd (who historically has been an alright defender) and J.J. Barea (who committed a couple silly fouls after he knew he was beat).

4. Miller scored 23 of 52 in the fourth quarter and overtime. That’s getting it done.

In my opinion, Andre Miller’s career night against the Mavericks was probably one of the most impressive scoring outbursts in modern NBA history. It won’t get talked about much, unfortunately, because of Portland’s market size and the fact that Miller isn’t exactly marketable as a superstar player.

But if you look at Miller’s game, he brings a lot of intangibles besides scoring, such as veteran leadership and the ability to make his teammates better. Only this game, he took the game over single-handedly and carried a tired Blazer team to the victory in a place they’ve historically had a lot of trouble even being competitive.

Quite an impressive performance, indeed, and I hope Miller’s killer instinct rubs onto the rest of the team. That’s gotta happen if the Blazers are going to remain competitive throughout the season with all the injuries.

GO BLAZERS!!!