NBA Click & Roll: Damian Lillard's heroics, confidence have underdog Blazers believing
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DAME. SET. MATCH.
Paste BN Sports' Martin Rogers weighs in on the confidence of Damian Lillard and what it means for Portland moving forward ...
Confidence courses through Damian Lillard’s veins at all times, but this is something different. Confidence is the ability to keep shooting even amid a slump, or to walk tall when others doubt you.
Deliberately waiting until the final second before uncorking a game-deciding, series-clinching 3-pointer from 37 feet, just because you can? That’s true belief.
Had his Tuesday night buzzer-beating bomb missed, then attempting it could legitimately have been called foolhardiness. Paul George said that regardless of the outcome it was a "bad shot." There won’t be anyone in Portland who agrees with him.
Lillard’s long-range magic act to seal Game 5 and bump the Oklahoma City Thunder out of the postseason erased any insecurities the Trail Blazers had as a result of their empty recent playoff history.
And, in that instant, turned his team from an afterthought into a dangerous, prowling menace that has undergone a character overhaul in recent weeks.
As the regular season wound down, Lillard and his colleagues were the team every lower seed in the Western Conference wanted to face. Without Jusuf Nurkic, the influential big man who went down with a leg injury in March, the Blazers looked ripe for an upset and offered a far more palatable option that any of the other top seeds.
Things look very different now. Tuesday’s heroics meant that the Blazers were the first team from the West to clinch their series, with George and Russell Westbrook and the Thunder’s antagonistic approach no more than a fleeting obstacle.
At least one statistical model believes the Trail Blazers still have as low a chance of making the Finals as anyone (Eastern Conference teams included).
If perception means anything in this game, let’s just say this – they don’t feel like a team with nothing more than forlorn hope. A city is buzzing behind them, they are finding ways to win and adversity has proven to be a driving force.
Despite Lillard’s name, status and capacity for a 50-point haul, there are a multitude of intangibles that dictate why Portland is still alive. The Blazers are a group that came together when they might have splintered, actually getting stronger when Nurkic, who raised the roof at the Moda Center on Tuesday with his courtside fist-pump and roars of encouragement, saw his season end.
The team came into the playoffs hot, having won 11 of 13. C.J. McCollum complements Lillard like a dream and sometimes takes over the bulk of the heavy lifting, while head coach Terry Stotts has unearthed meaningful production from Enes Kanter, who was given up on by the hapless New York Knicks a few months back.
The Blazers' 10 consecutive playoff game losses over the past three years, including last year’s sweep by the New Orleans Pelicans? Long forgotten now.
Next up will be a meeting with Denver, unless the Nuggets let their 3-2 series advantage over the San Antonio Spurs slip.
The postseason is still young and there are surely countless twists to come. No one, not even in the Pacific Northwest, is proclaiming the Trail Blazers as the team of destiny. But they’ve changed their own destiny already, so who knows what might be next?
"When you keep fighting and you keep working through (adversity) and stay together, there's a reward waiting for you," Lillard told TNT after Tuesday's win. "We kept working, and I think this is the beginning of our result."
Are you brave enough to argue with the man who took the most audacious shot of the season – and made it?
CATCH UP AROUND THE LEAGUE
— Russell Westbrook's stonewalling of The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel is "dangerous," says Steve Kerr, and "unprofessional," says Charles Barkley.
— The 76ers are on to the next round, but they can't rely on talent alone this time around, writes our Jeff Zillgitt. Their opponent? The Raptors, who are in the conference semis for the fourth consecutive year. But don't sleep on the Bucks. Zillgitt writes that they have all the hallmarks of a Finals squad, and their second-round date with Boston will make for must-see TV.
— The 76ers-Nets series was fun, and it had all the drama — from a GM being fined for entering the refs' locker room to skirmishes, ejections and trash talk.
— Why Ben Simmons won't be fazed by a few boos.
— The Jazz avoided being swept by Houston thanks to a huge fourth quarter from Donovan Mitchell. Here's what makes the 22-year-old star so special.
— Welcome to the world of NBA memes, Nick Nurse.
— Blake Griffin personally thanked Pistons reporters after his final press conference. He also joined in on fans' "ref you suck!" chants during the team's season-ending loss.
— In serious news, Kelli Tennant, a former sports reporter who has filed a lawsuit against Kings head coach Luke Walton alleging he sexually assaulted her, made her first public comments Tuesday and said she feared Walton ''was going to rape me."
Check back next week for all your NBA news.