Lillard better without LMA, Lillard adjusted, or just weaker competition?

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PapaG said:
More shots + more aggressiveness = better numbers. The Blazers were extremely lucky to win last night, though. With Ty Lawson, I don't think the Blazers win that game. The rebounding was embarrassing, but a win is a win.
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The Thuggets are a very good rebounding team. We were shooting so well from the perimeter, we weren't crashing the boards much.
 
maxiep said:
The sign of a star is a player that steps up his game when someone goes down. Lillard hasn't just put this team on his back, his increased volume hasn't experienced a tradeoff with efficiency.
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It's stretches like this that you start wondering just where his ceiling is...
 
maxiep said:
The Thuggets are a very good rebounding team. We were shooting so well from the perimeter, we weren't crashing the boards much.
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They also nullify TRob's leaping ability well; Rice had the right of it when he mentioned that TRob hasn't had to really box out before the NBA and that weakness shows sometimes.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
It's stretches like this that you start wondering just where his ceiling is...
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In the history of this franchise, we have had a number of really good point guards, but I'm not sure this franchise has ever had a great one. We've had great shooting guards, great power forwards and great centers, but never a great PG. A great PG can be an anchor and a talent magnet for a franchise. He makes everyone around him better.

As long as he stays healthy, we could actually have a Stephon Marbury with a good head on his shoulders, which is quite something.
 
maxiep said:
In the history of this franchise, we have had a number of really good point guards, but I'm not sure this franchise has ever had a great one. We've had great shooting guards, great power forwards and great centers, but never a great PG. A great PG can be an anchor and a talent magnet for a franchise. He makes everyone around him better.

As long as he stays healthy, we could actually have a Stephon Marbury with a good head on his shoulders, which is quite something.
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It's interesting that, other than this thread, there hasn't been much OMFG LILLARD! talk around his last four games. Almost like he's just doin work and not making it look hard... he's making it look easy.
 
Jayps15 said:
Some of it's getting more shots, some of it's better spacing with Wright, some of it just seems like him taking another step forward in his development, and some of it is just teams being a little caught off guard having to play against a totally different offense without LMA in.

Not many guys can take a big step up in scoring load like Lillard has with LMA out and be even more efficient, I would like to see him stay aggressive like this even when LMA comes back to see if he can keep it up, maybe not to the tune of 30 every night but keep getting 20 attempts and 7 or 8 FTs and we'll be in good shape. The team wouldn't be where it is without LMA, but swapping Lillard and LMA as options 1 and 2 on offense would be a an improvement moving forward IMO.
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Absolutely agree. I'd rather Dame take step back threes than LA shooting twisty, heavily contested 20' Js
 
BlazerCaravan said:
It's interesting that, other than this thread, there hasn't been much OMFG LILLARD! talk around his last four games. Almost like he's just doin work and not making it look hard... he's making it look easy.
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It shows how high our expectations are of him. It's like the comment I made in a game thread where Aldridge put together a 30+/10+ game and people weren't blown away by it. Aldridge has been so good, our reaction is "just another day at the office". That's how Lillard has been his entire career. Right from the start. Incredible.

Lillard has saved this franchise from the Frail Blazer era. Without him, we trade Aldridge and it's 2005 again, hoping that Telfair, Webster and Khryapa can lead us to the promised land and talking about the great game Ha Seung-Jin just had.
 
maxiep said:
It shows how high our expectations are of him. It's like the comment I made in a game thread where Aldridge put together a 30+/10+ game and people weren't blown away by it. Aldridge has been so good, our reaction is "just another day at the office". That's how Lillard has been his entire career. Right from the start. Incredible.

Lillard has saved this franchise from the Frail Blazer era. Without him, we trade Aldridge and it's 2005 again, hoping that Telfair, Webster and Khryapa can lead us to the promised land and talking about the great game Ha Seung-Jin just had.
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Exactly. And man those were bleak times.
 
shamelessblazer said:
I do think there's some truth to the Wright theory. However, that's also a huge liability on defense. This is why I would really like to have a stretch 4 (who can guard the post on D) like Frye. If he could give 14 mpg w/Dame & Robinson while Aldridge is on the bench I think that would be a great lineup of floor spacers for Dame to either iso or pick n roll w/Robinson (where Robinson is going to be most effective). Also, the stretch 4 could hit the D boards hard b/c he'll be inside while Robinson races down the court for fast breaks and, because he'll generally be out on the perimeter get back on D while Robinson plays to his strength hitting the O boards hard. Lastly, it would be nice to have at least 1 player on the team who can set a good perimeter screen that defenders need to stick with as a three point threat!

Also, he could go 10-15 mpg next to Aldridge w/Dame on the bench (especially if we have a PG who can make an entry pass, which we don't right now!) for Aldridge to beast inside on other teams b/u or undersized defenders. Aldridge doesn't like playing C, but he could do it 15 mpg, against b/u's, next to a guy who will defend the post.

F combos (mpg)
Aldridge/Lopez (24, ideal)
Frye/Robinson (10, Dame iso)
Aldridge/Frye (10, LMA iso)
Robinson/Lopez (4, defense/rebounding)

Aldridge - 34, Lopez - 28, Frye - 20, Robinson - 14
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Not sure if I agree or not but well thought out quality post regardless
 
Lillard has really been focused after the ASG. With LA out, Lillard has shown he has the tools to be the #1 option of a very good team.

Conversely, I think we've seen that Matthews and Batum don't have the overall talent to step up their production dramatically in the absence of LA.
 
craigehlo said:
Lillard has really been focused after the ASG. With LA out, Lillard has shown he has the tools to be the #1 option of a very good team.

Conversely, I think we've seen that Matthews and Batum don't have the overall talent to step up their production dramatically in the absence of LA.
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Yep; role players.
 
Damian is an elite scorer. In the 4 games after the break he is scoring 30 pts per game while shooting 50%.

The offense is like night and day when he goes out. Other than Mo no one can create their own shot. I think CJ will eventually help out, but right now it looks ugly.

It reminds me of Oregon when they had Ridenour. Their other players were pretty damn good, (Freddie and Luke) but when Rid left the game, the whole offense shut down. This is a PG dominated game. You have to have two really good ones unless you happen to have KD or LBJ on your team
 
Why is Lillard penetrating more and finishing better at the rim? The answer has little to do with LaMarcus being out. Yes, with LaMarcus out, Lillard has to look for his shot more, but he's not settling for more long jumpers. He's looking to drive a lot more and the reason is obvious - our last four opponents haven't had any shot blockers to deny the penetration. I'm not sure if it was the coaching staff telling him to drive more, or if he is just smart enough to know our last four opponents haven't had any rim protecting shot blockers to prevent him from getting to the rim and finishing with ease. Either way, the fact that he's driving more is also resulting in more FTA, which is also bolstering his scoring.

Here's a look at just how weak our last four opponents have been in terms of protecting the rim.

San Antonio Spurs: Their best shot blocker, by far, Tim Duncan didn't play against us. That left Tiago Splitter (16 BLKs all season - Robin Lopez has 14 BLKs since the All-Star break) and Boris Diaw (22 BLKs) as their starting bigs.

Utah Jazz: Their only halfway decent shot blocker, Derrick Favors (66 BLKs) didn't play against us. That left them with Enes Kanter (30 BLKs) and Marvin Williams (22 BLKs) as their starting bigs.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Dead last in the entire league in BLKs, and it's not close, and that's when they are healthy. Their leading shot blocker, Rony Turiaf (39 BLKs) and their starting center, Nikola Pekovic didn't play against us. That left Kevin Love (22 BLKs) and Dante Cunningham (35 BLKs) as their starting bigs.

Denver Nuggets: Started Timofey Mozgov (66 BLKs) and Kenneth Faried (49 BLKs) against us. Mozgov is the closest thing to a rim protector Lillard has faced since the All-Star break, but he's very slow footed, which allows quick players like Lillard to blow right past him. For the game, Denver's regular starting center, J.J. Hickson (40 BLKs) played more minutes than Mozgov and we all know from his days in Portland, rim protector is the last thing anyone would call J.J. Hickson.

With such a lack of shot blocking, rim protecting opposing bigs, it's no wonder Lillard has had the green light to attack the paint with impunity and has been finishing with ease. That's probably the weakest collection of interior defenders Lillard will see in any four game stretch all season.

So yes, Lillard gets more shots when Aldridge is out and Dorell Wright helps spread the floor, but the main reason, by far, why Lillard is driving the lane and having more success finishing has been the incredibly weak, practically non-existent interior defense of our last four opponents.

I'm not sure where to find it, but I'd be curious to see the break down of Lillard's scoring (points in the pant, jump shots and FTs) for the last four games and how it compares to his season averages. Even without seeing the numbers, I'd be surprised if his points in the paint haven't doubled in his last four games compared to the previous 53.

And, that's a good thing. This stretch of positive results has to help his confidence in his ability to finish at the rim. And when Lillard is a threat to penetrate, score at the rim and draw fouls, it will open up things more for his outside shot - guard him tight at the 3-point line and he'll drive past you, back off him to deny the penetration and he'll stick the 3-pointer. The fact that the team is winning these games with Aldridge out is huge. It's letting guys like Lillard and Lopez expand their rolls and boost their confidence, and that will pay dividends come playoff time.

BNM
 
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rasheedfan2005 said:
Larping or furies?
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Why not both?
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Boob-No-More said:
'd be surprised if his points in the paint haven't doubled in his last four games compared to the previous 53.
BNM
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Last night
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Season average
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IE he used to take long jumpers, last night it was all 3s or right under the basket.
 
OK, I didn't find the points in the paint stats for Lillard, but I did look at his shot results charts for the last four games. In shots taken at the rim, he was:

SAS: 9/12
UTA: 4/14
MIN: 5/6
SAS: 4/7

Total: 22/39

4 Game Averages:
FGM - 5.5
FGA - 9.75
FG% - .564

First 53 Games: 130/297

53 Game Averages:

FGM - 2.45
FGA - 5.60
FG% - .438

So, for the last four games Lillard is attempting an additional 3 FGA per game and also making an additional 3 FGM per game compared to the previous 53 games. He is also converting his shots at the rim at a much higher percentage (in spite of the 4/14 in the UTA game).

And, this doesn't even reflect the uptick in FTAs due to drawing more fouls by attacking the paint.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
OK, I didn't find the points in the paint stats for Lillard, but I did look at his shot results charts for the last four games. In shots taken at the rim, he was:

SAS: 9/12
UTA: 4/14
MIN: 5/6
SAS: 4/7

Total: 22/39

4 Game Averages:
FGM - 5.5
FGA - 9.75
FG% - .564

First 53 Games: 130/297

53 Game Averages:

FGM - 2.45
FGA - 5.60
FG% - .438

So, for the last four games Lillard is attempting an additional 3 FGA per game and also making an additional 3 FGM per game compared to the previous 53 games. He is also converting his shots at the rim at a much higher percentage (in spite of the 4/14 in the UTA game).

And, this doesn't even reflect the uptick in FTAs due to drawing more fouls by attacking the paint.

BNM
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He's really not getting more FTA though. Last night was an anomaly. In the previous three games he had 5, 4, and 5 respectively, which is right in line with his 5.2 FTA average for the season. Last night he had 13 FTA, which was just insane.
 
Natebishop3 said:
He's really not getting more FTA though. Last night was an anomaly. In the previous three games he had 5, 4, and 5 respectively, which is right in line with his 5.2 FTA average for the season. Last night he had 13 FTA, which was just insane.
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I didn't watch the game, but I do know he was being more aggressive in the paint from all I've heard. Was he initiating more contact or were the defenders not playing straight up?
 
Strenuus said:
I didn't watch the game, but I do know he was being more aggressive in the paint from all I've heard. Was he initiating more contact or were the defenders not playing straight up?
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A bunch of them were superstar calls. He finally got some of the calls that we have been screaming about. Hopefully he continues to get them.
 
Natebishop3 said:
A bunch of them were superstar calls. He finally got some of the calls that we have been screaming about. Hopefully he continues to get them.
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Wow. Maybe I should stop listening to games. #superstitious

Nah, I'll listen. :) Sorry! :lol:
 
Perhaps LMA's injury has been a good thing, especially when it happened. Lillard comes back from the ASG full of confidence, and is able to assert the "new" Dame on the game as the #1 scoring option. Having LMA come back is only going to help things, since the two of them play so well on the court together, unlike, say, Durant and Westbrook, who seem to have very little on-court chemistry, and use sheer talent to win games.
 
PapaG said:
Perhaps LMA's injury has been a good thing, especially when it happened. Lillard comes back from the ASG full of confidence, and is able to assert the "new" Dame on the game as the #1 scoring option. Having LMA come back is only going to help things, since the two of them play so well on the court together, unlike, say, Durant and Westbrook, who seem to have very little on-court chemistry, and use sheer talent to win games.
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I think it's kind of like LA stepping up when Roy went down. It gave him a chance to see that he could be a #1 option, and he ran with it. We are getting to see Dame as the #1 option, but unlike Roy, LA doesn't have a career ending injury. I love when the two of them are firing on all cylinders in the same game.
 
Strenuus said:
I listen to all of them. I tried the stream thing, and I didn't like it. If they are on KGW, I'll watch them, however.
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You miss so much by listening to the radio though.

And trust me, Wheels makes everything out to be way worse than it is.
 
Natebishop3 said:
You miss so much by listening to the radio though.

And trust me, Wheels makes everything out to be way worse than it is.
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Ah, but you listen to enough, you learn to balance it out. Also, I really don't miss much. I have a damn good imagination and usually get lost in the game while listening to it.

Also, I will never pay for cable ever again. If that means me listening to all the games, then so be it. Doesn't make me any less of a fan, IMO.
 
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