Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard is gassed

  |  
Apr 14, 2021
Portland Trail Blazers
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers.

Basketball is a Team Game

Let’s look at Dame’s stats in comparison with the minutes he’s logged.

FG% 3P% FT% REB AST BLK STL TO PTS W/L
December 40 28.9 92.6 4.5 6.3 0.5 0.8 3.8 23 2-2
January 47.2 41.2 94.6 4.9 7.5 0.1 0.9 3.0 31.5 8-6
February 43.4 36.9 92.8 3.8 9.1 0.3 1.1 3.5 30.2 7-6
March 44.6 37.8 95.6 4.1 7.4 0.2 0.6 2.9 29.8 10-4
April 38.4 37.3 76.5 3.3 6.0 0.5 1.2 2.7 20.2 2-4
Year 44.1 37.8 92.7 4.2 7.6 0.3 0.9 3.1 28.7 31-22

Maybe, he’ is just in a slump. That’s the best-case scenario. The worst case is disheartening for Blazers fans; Lillard is tired and has tired legs. Now let’s look at Dame’s stats during the time McCollum was out with his injury. From January 16 to March 15, Lillard stats are as follows:

Min FG% 3P% FT% REB AST BLK STL TO PTS W/L
35.95 45.1 37.1 91 4.1 8.4 0.2 1.1 3.4 31.4 15-11

During that stretch of 25 games, in 12 of them, Lillard played over his 2020-21 average of 36 minutes. All this says, well, a lot, and it’s not good. What we thought was a deep Portland Trail Blazers team is not. The Blazers don’t have a reliable bench. Some fans are trying to crucify Stotts and GM Neil Olshey for trading Gary Trent Jr. after the guard’s recent explosion for Toronto. Don’t get me started.

Even with CJ back, the Blazers are only 8-6. So again, the Blazers go as far as Lillard goes. The addition of Norman Powell is a boost. He’s a reliable third scorer behind Lillard and McCollum. He seamlessly fits in with this team and handled himself like a pro. It’s too small of a sample to tell exactly how Powell’s presence affects the rest of the players on the team. But the eye test says he’s a big add.

Next: Page 3 – Looking ahead

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