Tyronn Lue ill, and therefore absent from the trip to Portland, his assistant Dan Craig found himself faced with a challenge of choice: to try to contain Damian Lillard. No one is really getting there right now. Since the weekend of the All-Star Game, the leader of the Blazers posted a crazy average of 37 points (46% including 39% from afar), in addition to 7 assists and 6.5 rebounds, over ten games.
An average obviously boosted by his performance at 71 points posted at the end of February and which made him the hottest scorer in the league in recent weeks. This game against the Clippers served as a setback. ” We wanted to be physical with Lillard and make the pass for someone else to make the play », describes Eric Gordon20 points (7/9 on shots including 4/5 from afar) off the bench and author of several defensive sequences on Lillard.
The Clippers, who remained on an inglorious defeat against the Magic, had suffered the wrath of a player of the same caliber as Damian Lillard, four days earlier: Stephen Curry had equaled his best performance of the year with 50 points scored on their floors. No question, therefore, of experiencing the same thing at the Moda Center.
” I think it could have been the other way around. If we had faced Dame earlier, we would have been prepared for Steph. The fact that we saw Steph before allowed us to better prepare for Dame. That’s really what happened. We had to focus on him and if other guys got shots, they got shots. But we tried to do the maximum on Lady “, deciphers Paul George, top scorer of the meeting with his 29 points.
Priority on Damian Lillard
Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Terance Mann… The Californians made efforts to hold their dribble and fight on the screens at the head of the racket. Ivica Zubac was also key in getting high on him or challenging him at the circle. Such attention has mainly benefited Jusuf Nurkic (23 points and 11 rebounds), largely fueled by his pick-and-roll leader, especially in the first quarter.
” We knew he was going to be super aggressive, so the game plan was to double-team him on the screen and try to get the ball out of his hands. It penalized us a little with Nurkic. We were behind in our weakside rotations, but we had prioritized him », recalls Dan Craigpromoted to coach of the Clippers for a night.
He also notes that the point guard has managed to get to the free throw line a number of times. It was this 12/13 in throws that allowed Damian Lillard to finish on a more decent note at 21 points, 10 assists and 7 assists. But with a terrible 4/17 on shots, including 1/8 from afar…
” I think we could have been a little more disciplined compared to (at throws), but overall we worked well against him “, can still congratulate the usual assistant.
| Damian Lillard | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2012-13 | ORP | 82 | 39 | 42.9 | 36.8 | 84.4 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 6.5 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 0.2 | 19.1 |
| 2013-14 | ORP | 82 | 36 | 42.4 | 39.4 | 87.1 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 20.7 |
| 2014-15 | ORP | 82 | 36 | 43.4 | 34.3 | 86.4 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 6.2 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 21.0 |
| 2015-16 | ORP | 75 | 36 | 41.9 | 37.5 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 6.8 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 25.1 |
| 2016-17 | ORP | 75 | 36 | 44.4 | 37.0 | 89.5 | 0.6 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 27.0 |
| 2017-18 | ORP | 73 | 37 | 43.9 | 36.1 | 91.6 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 6.6 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 26.9 |
| 2018-19 | ORP | 80 | 36 | 44.4 | 36.9 | 91.2 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 6.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 25.8 |
| 2019-20 | ORP | 66 | 38 | 46.3 | 40.1 | 88.8 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 8.0 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 0.3 | 30.0 |
| 2020-21 | ORP | 67 | 36 | 45.1 | 39.1 | 92.8 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 28.8 |
| 2021-22 | ORP | 29 | 36 | 40.2 | 32.4 | 87.8 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 24.0 |
| 2022-23 | ORP | 56 | 36 | 46.7 | 37.7 | 91.5 | 0.8 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 7.2 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 32.4 |
| Total | 767 | 36 | 44.0 | 37.3 | 89.5 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 25.2 | |
