Portland Trail Blazers 2020-21 season eve roundtable – Wins, Finals, & Dame Time
Q1 – Can Damian Lillard play an entire season like he did in the bubble?
Ed Stein
There is no reason to doubt Damian Lillard’s ability to dominate the competition every night. For Me, the better question is should he play the entire season as he did in the bubble. That answer is no. Spread the wealth. As long as Portland wins games, it doesn’t matter if Dame goes off for 60. My stance holds until the playoffs. At that point, Dame Time takes over.
Chris Phillips
I don’t see Dame playing a full 72 games at the elite level that he did in the bubble. Lillard can probably do it for a month. But it will also take a big toll on him if he’s forced to play that way for the entire season.
Teresa Powe
I don’t believe Dame Lillard can play with the intensity he had in Orlando. He shouldn’t have to. First, when the Blazers arrived at the bubble they were in ninth place in the West. They had to play in a mini-playoff to get to that eighth seed. Nine games and a 7-2 record. Secondly, Dame had to score to bring those wins home.
He had one 60-point game, one 50-point game, two 40s, and four 30s. Dame played more minutes (494) than any other bubble player. That was over just 12 games, including the play-in and three playoff games against the Lakers.
Chip Clark
It’s possible for Dame to play the season like he did in the bubble. For years we’ve seen that he can play at All-Star/MVP level. In the bubble, Lillard was able to completely lock-in and feast on other teams. In the end, it really just depends if Dame wants to play that way all season.