#damienlillard

[thewiseguy4]

Dame for the win!!!! #damienlillard #portland #portlandtrailblazers #nba #okc #okcthunder #nbaplayoffs #fifty #fiftyburger https://www.instagram.com/p/BwoELW8lPmh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xre1tovzyrcs

[unfair-sports]

Funny Money

[sonrize561]

CJ McCollum & Damien Lillard Vs Lebron James & Anthony Davis. Who you with? Don't just like the post, choose 1! #cjmccollum #damienlillard #versus #lebronjames #anthonydavis #NBA #duos #basketball #sports #sonrizemusic www.sonrizemusic.net https://www.instagram.com/p/B1cSAlthYyl/?igshid=1tyq0oq04e53s

[solomontigcelot]

The only way you can't watch this at least 3 times is if: A - you don't know who they are B - you don't know the song (which shouldn't be a big obstacle) C - you're a #blazers fan #birdgang #neworleans #pelicans #nba #basketball #nbaplayoffs #cashmoney #theclipse #whathappenedtothatboy #damienlillard #anthonydavis #playoffrondo #jrueholiday #birdman #pharrell (at Advanced Associate Solutions)

[blackwaterjesus-blog]

What y’all know about @damienlillard I mean #damedolla ??? #nba #and #rap #grind #damienlillard #theletdown #featuring #nickgrant #and #bjthechicagokid #confirmed

[hoopedup]

Bars & Buckets // 🎨@elliotgerard x @addison.foote . . . . #damedolla #confirmed #lillard #nbaart #trailblazers #damienlillard #hoopart #portland #pdx #hiphop #ripcity

[localrhythm]

We’re Blazer fans tonight * * * #basketball #portland #trailblazers #nba #sport #blazers #ripcity #modacenter #damienlillard #lillard (at Moda Center)

[sowingseedsandshootinghoops]

The Dallas Mavericks Vs The Portland Trailblazers

All stats, unless otherwise noted, come from the NBA Gametime App

This was a rather strange game. Strange because I didn’t see much change in either team’s tactics throughout the game as a whole, this is especially true of Dallas. Sometimes the tactics worked, sometimes they did not. But more on that later.

First things first. Dallas was 0-4 coming into the game looking for its first win of the year, and they were looking to do so without Andrew Bogut who was out for personal reasons. This forced Dallas to go with a fairly “small” starting 5: Deron Williams, JJ Barea, Harrison Barnes, Wes Matthews and Dirk Nowitzki, who was forced to play center. Now Williams, Barea and Matthews are all guards while Barnes plays small forward. Portland opted for a more traditional starting lineup sizewise. This is was to work to the Trailblazers’ advantage.

It became very clear very quickly that whoever ruled the paint would rule the day. Without Bogut the Mavericks lacked a strong interior presence. The Trailblazers sought to exploit this by swarming the paint. On the offensive side of the ball, they made sure there were at least 4 players in the paint at all times.They were moving so much through the paint that they kept Dallas’ defensive eyes fixed there. Which meant that Dallas would often forget about the one man on the perimeter who now had a completely open shot every time he got the ball. It was very clear from the opening quarter that Miles Plumlee was going to be very effective in this game for Portland. 

Defensively the Mavs tried to make up for Bogut’s absence by swarming the paint and trying to pressure the Trailblazers to either turn the ball over or rely on their jump shooting. This did not work for the most part because Dallas was playing with a fairly and not particularly athletic lineup. Damien Lillard had a monster night and showed that he was more than capable of running past any defender that Dallas put on him, and when he wasn’t he threw up the ball and the let the big guys, namely Plumlee and Harkless, get to work. Either that or he would force Dallas to foul him because he was too fast for them to contain him. By the end of the second quarter Plumlee was a perfect 5 for 5 in field goals with 15 points. He also had two steals, 2 rebounds and an assist. Lillard had 15 points, 4 assists and a rebound, none of which served as an indicator for the tsunami that he was going to unleash in the second half. By that time Portland was leading Dallas in points in the paint 24-12.

Things did not go any better on the other side of the ball for the Mavs where the plan seemed to be to let every player handle his own defender. There were not many screens being set and nearly no off the ball movement. The only reason that Dallas didn’t get blown out in the first half is because Barea got hot. Barea is an aggressive little fighter who never backs down: at one point he had the ball with 5 seconds to go, backs down his much bigger defender, uses his arm to push the defender off, then drifts out to the three point line and sinks in a shot. At the end of the first half he had 16 points (including four 3s) and 3 assists. The Mavs entered halftime down 52-55. 

Dirk is not the player that he used to be. He moves extremely slowly now and that severely limits his offensive productivity, and he never was a great defender to begin with. I’ve been saying for at least the past year now that he would retire either at the end of last season or at the end of this one. Even when he signed his two year deal this past summer, I told everyone not to expect him to last beyond this year, and I fear this game may have proved me right. Although he has had a fairly pristine career in terms of his health, his one major surgery being an arthroscopic knee surgery back in 2012 that had him out for about a quarter of the season, Father Time is undefeated and gets to all of us eventually. This may have been the game where Dirk’s luck finally ran out. He was taken out of the game right before half time due to “Achilles soreness” is due to be out for at least another week, possibly more. It did not really matter anyways because in two quarters all he was able to deliver was 5 points, 7 rebounds, an assist and a block. 5 points and that was it. 

Things fared a little better for the Mavs offensively in the second half: their off the ball movement was forcing Portland’s defense to work a little bit which meant that they got better opportunities to score. Quincy Acy, Justin Anderson and Salah Mejri also provided a few sparks off the bench. They even brought the game to within one in the middle of the third, but that was before Lillard went berserk. He finished the game with 42 points (including 13 of 14 free throws), 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and Portland came out with the win 105 to 95. 

Key Players

Portland: Damien Lillard obviously had the biggest game of the night, as I said above. Plumlee ended the night with 19 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and a block. Al-Faroq Aminu, who I still can’t believe was allowed by Dallas to leave, finished the game with a very respectable 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block.

Mavericks: Harrison Barnes had a respectable game even though he is not worth the 95 million dollars Dallas paid for him: 17 points and 10 rebounds. The biggest contribution though came from Barea who had 23 points (including five 3s) and 6 assists.