Damian Lillard had a message for the world when he walked out of court Tuesday night, following his career-high tie with 61 points in the Trail Blazers’ crucial 134-131 victory over the Dallas Mavericks: “Set some respect to my f– —- name. “After a performance like that, it’s hard to do otherwise.
Even for him, Lillard is just on another level right now. His 61-point, 5-rebound, 8-assist display against the Mavericks was his second straight game with at least 50 points, and his third with at least 45 in the bubble. He is now the only player in Portland history with back-to-back 50-point nights and is ahead of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time 50-point games Leaderboard with 11.
In the first seven games in Orlando, he now averages a remarkable 37 points, 9.3 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field, and 41.7 percent from ‘ and 3-point line. Thanks to his leadership, the Blazers are 5-2, and they have made up a 3.5-game deficit to overtake the Memphis Grizzlies for eighth place in the Western Conference. If they beat the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, they retain that advantage for this weekend’s play-in tournament.
In a difficult season, in which he had to put the Blazers on his back every night, Lillard seems to save his last for the best. Only someone who works with his kind of confidence would even dare this shot.
However, he did not need surprising bounces to score most of his points in this one. Here’s a closer look at how he was able to destroy the Mavericks by choosing Kristaps Porzingis.
On the very first game of the game, the Blazers ran a high pick-and-roll with Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic, and Porzingis just kind of stood there and let Lillard turn up for a simple mid-range jumper. It was a progressive start for Dallas.
All night long, the Blazers ran to a high-stakes high-stakes involving Lillard and Nurkic, and the Mavericks got zero answers. If Porzingis dropped, as he often did, Lillard would pounce on jumpers. Just watch this compilation. There is not even much to break here. It’s just a high screen with Nurkic, Porzingis sitting back and Lillard shooting.
The problem for Dallas is that the other option Porzingis steps on, but he just does not have the lateral speed to contain Lillard who is far from the course. When Porzingis tried that, the Blazers star blew right past the big man for easy finishes to the rim. Again, there is not much to break in these clips. The Blazers clear the floor, Lillard’s man is removed by the screen, he makes his way around Porzingis and gets a lineup.
On the one hand, this was a masterful achievement by Lillard. He plays at an extremely high level and deserves all the credit for the way he put his team to victory. At the same time, Porzingis and the Mavericks did not exactly set up a defensive clinic.
Lillard is in a zone where you can not give him any space at all, and the fact that they continued to fall and fall and fall, even well into the fourth quarter, was bizarre. No one wants to give up lay-ups, but at least if you step up and Lillard puts the ball on the deck, it gives Porzingis the chance to influence the shot, or for assisting defense to come. Letting him jump in open jumpers is just giving away free points.
The good news for the Mavericks is that even if the Blazers end up making the playoffs, they will not be able to face each other until the finals of the Western Conference, so they probably will not have to see him again this season. Other teams, however, should take this as another reminder of what Lillard can do if your pick-and-roll defense is not on point.
