Is Damian Lillard Hurting The Blazers?

By nikk_la - Flickr: K26A0442, CC BY 2.0, Link

In a recent interview with New York Magazine, George Karl shared his thoughts on the performance from the Trailblazers this season saying, "I was watching the Portland Trailblazers play, and I was trying to figure out, What the hell is wrong with this team? My conclusion is that Damian Lillard is getting too much attention." 

When asked to elaborate on that thought George Karl went on to say, "Who controls the team? The coach and the point guard. And that team is not working. I think their coach, Terry Stotts, is a great coach. So I’m going to say the problem is Lillard. They were a together, connected, committed team last year. This year they’re not. What changed?"

That's right George Karl, what changed? They lost Chris Kaman but gained talents in Festus Ezeli (who is injured) and Evan Turner. So what changed? How can nearly the same team from last year take such a big drop off. 

Is it Damian Lillard? If we take a look at his numbers this year, he is averaging 27 PPG (he averaged 25.1 last season), 4.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 2.7 turnovers. If we look at his turnovers, they've dropped from last season (3.2) however his assists have also dropped from last season (6.2) so this doesn't really mean much. It just means he is passing less right? Wrong, thanks to NBA.com's provided stats, it shows that Damian Lillard is has about 1.5 passes per game more this season than last season. It's very, very minimal, but it shows that he is still passing but getting less assists and turnovers. To top all of this off, Lillard is scoring more while taking less shots per game. So why are they losing? 

The reason why... His teammates. This season, 4 players on the Blazers shoot under 36% when receiving a pass from Damian Lillard. 5 players on the Blazers shoot under 40% from the field in general. Last season, only 3 players shot under 40% and those 3 players only combined for a total of 81 games played. And to top that off, in the minimal amount of games that these players played in, they didn't even average over 10 minutes per game. But this season, Noah Vonleh, Meyers Leonard, and Al-Farouq Aminu are all shooting under 40% and they all are huge parts in this offense. And when given passes from Lillard, Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner both shoot below 36%. 

If we look at the team's rebounding, you'd see that the Trailblazers are 25th in rebounding. First off, you can tell they truely miss Chris Kaman as they are waiting for Festus Ezeli to recover. Their bigs aren't that great. Second, they aren't making shots, and to me, that falls on 1 person, the coach. Something has changed. Now, I love Terry Stotts, he is an amazing coach, but something needs to change with the offense. You can't have all of these players shooting that poorly. It's clearly changed from last season. Ed Davis isn't even shooting nearly as well from last season, it's bad. Sure while Lillard and McCollum might be shooting better, but the rest of the team sure isn't. You can't win games with 1 or two people shooting really well. Something in the offense has to change, and, oh yeah, they really need to rebound better.

But hang on here, George Karl was completely wrong. Damian Lillard has been more efficient and has has less turnovers while scoring more and while passing the ball even more than last season. This man isn't the reason and is really going unnoticed for how hard he is working. It's not translating to many wins, but it sure should be. If anything, Terry Stotts needs to make adjustments which is ironic considering Karl's quote saying, "I think their coach, Terry Stotts, is a great coach. So I’m going to say the problem is Lillard". I love Terry Stotts but he needs to make adjustments, and for George Karl, it's best if he just keeps his mouth shut. 

Warriors VS Trailblazers (Game 4)

Warriors Lead Series 3-1

Stephen Curry, he's back alright. I remember watching the Starters and Tas Melas was saying that Curry will probably be rusty when he comes back and he'll need a game or 2 to get going again. But Tas couldn't have predicted this. Listen, Curry had 40 points, 17 in overtime! Klay Thompson and Draymond Green had 44 points combined. That's 84 points from those 3 players.

Listen, the Trailblazers put out their best effort, but they didn't win. If you are the Blazers, what do you do? Dame was amazing, so was McCollum. Mason Plumlee played great. Unfortunately, their turnovers cost them the game, but where do you go from here. You played a great, great game and lost in overtime. If you give a really great performance and lose, you aren't going to feel good at all. I just don't know how they can even win game 5 after this loss.

There is absolutely no way to describe this game in words or stats, you have to watch it to experience it so I'll let these videos do the talking.



 

Warriors VS Trailblazers (Game 3)

Warriors Lead Series 2-1

I want to start out this post by saying that Damian Lillard did what Damian Lillard needed to do to win this game. The kid had 40 points and 10 assists in the game. He took over for this Traiblazers team. He took advantage of this team not having the defensive presence of Steph Curry. No matter the shot Lillard was given, he made sure he made it.

Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were amazing. Klay had 35 points! But Draymond had 37 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and he shot 8-12 from 3-point range. A lot of his shots were wide open too. He played great but the Warriors couldn't come out with the W.

There were two reasons why the Trailblazers won. First, they didn't turn the ball over. They took great care of the ball. They only had 10 turnovers on the night. Portland made sure that they always got back in transition and the best team in transition only had 2 fastbreak points. When you limit the Warriors to 2 fastbreak points, you are doing a pretty good job at defending them.

The other reason was that the Trailblazers hit tough shots. The Warriors did a good job defensively but the Trailblazers just hit tough shots as they were lead by Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

As you can see, the Trailblazers deserved to get this win because they worked hard. If they keep this up, they could look and making this series a lot more interesting.

Clippers VS Trailblazers (Game 5)

Trailblazers Lead Series 3-2

The Clippers have lost and are now in a downward spiral. They were doing such a great job. The game was tied in the 3rd quarter, but what happened?

The Clippers played well through the first 3 quarters. They were very aggressive. You could tell that they expected to win the game too. 52 of their points came from the paint. Jeff Green was very active on offense as he had 17 points. J.J. Redick had 19 points as well. These are two guys that need to produce if the team is to win.

Going into the 4th quarter is when the Clippers lost it. Jamal Crawford really hurt them. He played 10 minutes in the quarter and shot just 0-4 from the field in those 10 minutes. They weren't the best quality shots either and none of them were in the paint. Other than that the Clippers offense was fine.

Their defense was a different story. Damian Lillard had 16 points in the 4th quater! They were horrible defending him when a big came up to give him a pick. They kind of laid off him letting him get off the shots. When guarding Dame, you can't let him get an open shot at a 3. He will knock him down. Force him inside the arc where he can't hurt you as much.

Damian Lillard - Shot Chart 4th quarter - www.nba.com/stats

The Trailblazers had a great overall game. They once again beat the Clippers in rebounds. Mason Plumlee was a big reason why. C.J. McCollum played great as he ended the game with 27 points. Harkless had a double-double as he had 19 points and 10 rebounds. These guys really contributed to the game which took pressure off Damian Lillard as he only had to come out and close the game. The play from the Trailblazers was amazing and if they keep it up, they are going to be looking at closing this series next game.

Clipper VS Trailblazers (Game 2)

Clippers Lead Series 2-0

This was Portland's game to win. In fact, they might not get a better shot to beat this Los Angeles Clippers team. You have to take advantage of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan having poor nights.

The blame really falls on to Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. I though both of them played really poor defense on Redick and Chris Paul. They both shot really well from the floor but that is because they were both defended poorly. Both of them also didn't play that great on offense. Both of them scored under 20 points in 38 minutes of play. Not to mention that Mason Plumlee was having a great game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists and Harkless had a good game as well. It was Portland's chance to win and their stars let them down.

While the stars of the Trailblazers shot horribly from 3 and played poor defense, the rest of the team played very well. They tied the Clippers in rebounds with 52. They also capitalized on points off turnovers and also had 18 fastbreak points. The bench wasn't that great for the Trailblazers but that was mainly because they played with McCollum and Lillard on the floor who weren't able to take over at all.

Meanwhile, the Clippers bench play was amazing. They had 43 bench points as they were very productive and they picked up for Griffin's poor shooting night. They shot well and produced at a great rate. The guards were also great for the Clippers. Chris Paul and J.J. Redick were amazing. They both carried their team offensively.

This was a game that Portland could have very well. If they are going to win, they need Lillard and McCollum to produce on offense but also play much better against these talented guards in Redick and Paul. 

Clippers VS Trailblazers (Game 1)

Clippers lead series 1-0

The Clippers had a dominant game. Chris Paul was dominant, DeAndre Jordan was dominant, and Blake Griffin, he was dominant! The Clippers really took it at this team offensively. Part of this had to do with the interior defense of the Portland Trailblazers. Harkless and Plumlee can't guard DeAndre and Blake. That is where the Blazers don't matchup well with the Clippers and their big just need to step it up.

C.J. McCollum needs to score. Portland has the advantage in their backcourt and they need to use it. Chris Paul and J.J. Redick outscored McCollum and Lillard. That just can't happen for this Portland team if they are going to win. They need scoring from their backcourt. One positive for this team is that Gerald Henderson played really great. I think they should probably insert him into the starting line-up to provide a big lift at the beginning of the game. That should open up things a little more for Dame and McCollum.

If you watched the highlights from this game, you might think that the Trailblazers really got beat in transition, but the Blazers actually did a really great job with their transition defense, only allowing the Clippers to get 8 fastbreak points. Damian Lillard and McCollum made sure that they got back on defense and Chris Paul can't run like he used to.

Really, the Blazers shot pretty poorly and they just are going to have to step it up on offense next game. they also need their bigs to step it up on defense. The Clippers are really doing great. This is going to be a fun series to watch once Damian Lillard and McCollum start hitting more shots.

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Nov. 17-23)

This week, the NBA Inside The Player Of The Week award goes to Damian Lillard. This week, Lillard made his mark, let's take a look how.

This week, the Trailblazers played 3 games, winning 2 of them. One of those game were against the Clippers. The main reason for the Trailblazers winning this week was because of Damian Lillard. This week, Lillard averaged 26.7 PPG, 7.3 APG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.7 steals per game.

Now, Lillard didn't shoot the best from 3-point range, as he only shot about 30%, but he made up for it at the free-throw line. He shot 16 free throws this week, making all of them. Lillard also managed to really help offensively and defensively. His offensive and defensive efficiency were great as he had a 96.3 defensive rating and an 104.5 defensive rating this week.

While me might not have shot the best, Lillard made some clutch plays. He came through in the win against the Clippers nailing 3 three-pointers within the last 5 minutes of the game that really turned things in favor for the Blazers and put the game away.

I do want to point out just how great Lillard did from mid-range this week. Lillard made 52.9% from mid-range going 9-17 from there. Most of these shots however, were in isolation, because 88.9% of those shots were unassisted. So it is nice to see Lillard taking it inside the arc a little bit as he was missing from long range. Only 9 of his 28 shots were assisted. So Lillard was in isolation in most of the game. It is clear that he completely took the team on his back and carried them to 2 wins this week.

I want to congratulate Damian Lillard for winning this award and I hope to see more great play like this in the future. Congratulations Damian Lillard, for winning the NBA Inside The Player Of The Week award. Although it might not mean a lot to you, it means a lot to us.
 

Fantasy Friday: Point Guards

Point Guards are necessary to a great fantasy team. They can provide assists, steals, and great 3 point shooting. The best fantasy point guards grab rebounds and average a great amount of points. So who are the best point guards in fantasy land. Well, here they are.

10. Goran Dragic: You will see him get more assists this season with the Heat and hopefully shoot the same. However you will probably see a drop in points with Dragic. Would be a good guy to have on your team though.

9. Mike Conley: A good offensive player but you can't forget about his offense. Great guy to have as he will give you steals and will give you assists as well as the points.

8. Kyle Lowry: I don't think his PPG will go up. I do however think that his assists numbers will rise. A thing to be concerned about is his turnovers as he averaged 3 in the playoffs last year. Another thing to note is that his 3 point percentage is dipping down to 33%. Kyle Lowry is a very streaky shooter, something to be concerned about.

7. Derrick Rose: The former MVP averaged over 17 PPG last season and should be noted that he does great in every other category, but with many past injuries, Derrick Rose could come with a price. Should you take Derrick Rose? Well, that's up to you.

6. Damian Lillard: While Damian Lillard averaged 21 PPG last season, that number is expected to rise. He will probably be one of the top scorers in the league. This man is a great 3 point shooter to top it off. So why is he ranked so low? Damian Lillard is very inconsistant. He had 28 games where he scored under 18 points. Also, he averages only 6.2 Assists. He isn't the best point guard for fantasy available.

5. Kyrie Irving: Kyrie averages about 21 PPG and shoots the ball really well from deep. While he isn't very well in the assist department, he can play great defense, getting 1.5 Steal per game. Kyrie is a much better defensive player than he is given credit for. You shouldn't have him as your main offensive focus, but you should have him for some defense and offense.

4. Chris Paul: He is one of the best fantasy players. He can score, pass, shoot, steal, and commit few turnovers. However, after a season with no injuries, I have a feeling that Paul will fall and his numbers will drop. If he is available at the right time, I would take him though.

3. Stephen Curry: We all know Curry. He can score, and shoot the ball. He will provide you with some steals, but he will score and shoot. You will not be short of 3's if you have him on your team. Yes he will provide some assists and a couple rebounds, but again, he will score and shoot.

2. Russell Westbrook: He was an amazing fantasy player last year. Almost averaged a triple double. Averaged over 2 steals per game. Your saying, "Why isn't he number 1?" Well, 3 reasons. Westbrook averaged 4.4 Turnovers last season. He shot under 30% from 3 point range. And to top it off, when Durant comes back, Westbrook's numbers are sure to drop. Don't get me wrong, he is a great fantasy player, he just isn't the best point guard. But this is the person who is...

1. John Wall: Shocker huh. John Wall averaged a little more than 17 PPG but it was all the other numbers that made up for it. 10 assists per game, 4.6 rebounds per game, 1.7 steals per game, and 0.6 blocks per game. Wall's numbers, I would assume, will climb even high this next season. I think he will probably get up to 20 PPG this next season. That is why J-Wall is number 1.

Grizzlies VS Trailblazers (game 5)

Final Score: Grizzlies win 99-93



Grizzlies win series 4-1

It's all over. Another series finished. The Grizzlies just were too much for the for the hurt and lacking Trailblazers. Let's take a look at what the Portland Trailblazers did right and wrong.

The Blazers had a great contribution form C.J. McCollum as he had 33 points and shot 7-11 from 3 point range. He wasn't enough to give this team the win though. Even though Batum had a horrible shooting night, he still had 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Damian Lillard only shot 1-8 from the 3 point line. He had shot like that all series. Arron Afflalo just couldn't shoot. He was scoreless in the game. The Blazers also had 18 less rebounds than the Grizzlies. All of those things contributed to the loss in game 5 for the grizzlies.

The Grizzlies just played great. They controlled the boards, dominated in the paint, and played great defense. One thing they could have done better is shoot the 3. They only shot about 7% from three point range. That's pretty sad. Defensively, Tony Allen played great. He had 5 steals and 2 blocks. The Grizzlies had an astonishing defensive rating of 94.6. Beno Udrih played absolutley horrible. He had a defensive rating of 111 and an offensive rating of 65.3! That's a net rating of -46.6. Absolutely horrible! Udrih was great in pretty much every game of the series, but game 5 he couldn't do anything. He is going to have to play better in the next series if Conley is still out. If Conley is back, I don't see this guy play much if he continues to play like this. Of course, this was just one game. I expect him to bounce back in game 1 against the Warriors. 

The Grizzlies are moving on. I will miss the Trailblazers and all their crazy three point shooting they gave us. I wish the Grizzlies best of luck going into the next series. They are going to need it.