The urgency of Damian Lillard
Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. didn't let Portland lose Thursday
“We knew they had a lot of their main guys out. In the NBA, I’ve learned those are the most dangerous nights,” Damian Lillard said on Thursday night after scoring 45 points and pacing the Blazers past a Nuggets team that was undermanned but still has expectations that are pretty high.
The games Dame has seen, when his team does not take things seriously and losses that stung far beyond the result of the game, have clearly stuck. One, in particular, a loss to a G League squad of Utah Jazz in 2015, in a year where LaMarcus Aldridge later left, is the one that I remember most. I figure that Lillard remembers it too, even if it’s probably more of a reflex than an actual conscious thought. Yes, Lillard has been successful in his career, but it was clear from his postgame comments that the reminder of letdowns past fueled the urgency tonight. But Dame wasn’t controlled by fear. Tonight, he simply took advantage of what was there, whether it was drop coverage, a lazy switch, or the fact the Nuggets currently have no healthy guards and their team’s training camp was ruined because half the team went to a house party before they went to the bubble. With all of this in mind, a failure to take advantage of such poor preparation is when the fear can set in. Dame simply never let it happen, scoring 14 in the first quarter on his way to 45 points and 12 assists.
“That’s why you respect your opponents, there is a lot of guys that want to stay in the league,” Lillard said after the game. “Just because they are at the end of the bench and they play behind great players that don’t mean they can’t play. I thought for us we did what they needed to do. For us, we are not going to apologize for a win and we got it done.”
The other Trail Blazer ready to pounce on live prey was Gary Trent Jr. Nobody has shot the ball more prolifically from the 3-point line so far in the restart than Gary Trent Jr.
He’s cooking defenses. He’s taking them to Flavortown. Fuck it, let’s make it a Change Dot Org petition to rename the NBA Restart “Gary’s Grocery Games!” While he’s good friends with Michael Porter Jr., dating back to their days playing hoops together as grade school kids, he made it clear that things are different once they get between the lines.
“I’ve known Michael Porter since I was in 2nd grade. We’ve won AAU championships together. Before the game, we would plan on getting dinner after the game. I’m glad that he’s finally getting an opportunity to do what we can do. Off the court, we are amazing friends. But when we on the court I don’t know him.”
Lillard is the household name that everyone knows, but Trent has been the one truly surprising everyone else. When asked if he’s shot the ball better before in games, he didn’t act surprised at all.
The game got interesting late as the Nuggets reserves played well. Frankly, they made the game a lot more interesting than they should have, considering they rested Nikola Jokic for the entirety of the 4th quarter. Porter also had another great night, finishing with 27 points but the Nuggets could not stop Lillard or Trent tonight.
Portland has very little luxury to rest on their laurels and some of their opponents may not have the requisite motivation. But the teams behind them aren’t stopping. Devin Booker and the Suns are playing like an elite team. San Antonio seems to have found a brand new identity. New Orleans and Memphis look to be faltering, but there is momentum building from the back of the West. If Portland is really going to make an impact, and truly crash the Western Conference party by taking the upper hand in the race for the Western Conference 8th seed, they have to continue following Lillard’s lead. Perhaps the most encouraging bellwether for that is that Gary Trent Jr. refuses to let down, reflecting Portland’s leader.