et ironically, it was one of Lillard's rare off-nights that said so much about how much better he may become. Facing Dallas at the American Airlines Center on Nov. 5, he was overwhelmed by Rick Carlisle's blitzing scheme and ruthless traps that forced him into a 2-of-13 outing from the field and a 13-point, five-assist outing in all. As Lillard approached the team plane headed back for Portland that night, he made it clear to Vanterpool that he wouldn't be wasting any time before trying to fix what had gone wrong.
"So I said, 'I'm going to break down the down the video and we'll look at it tomorrow and figure out what happened,'" Vanterpool said. "Then he was like, 'No, we're watching that on the plane.' He didn't really ask me. He was like, 'No, we're watching that on plane.'
"We got deep into the flight and he wanted to watch it again. Then I was showing him some other film from other games and other situations, and he was knee-deep into all of that. That speaks to a guy where it's not about any of this other stuff, as far as these interviews or the fame or everything that comes with it. It's just about getting better and wanting to be the best basketball player he can be."
