How far can Dame take the Blazers this postseason?
There is no player coming into the playoffs hotter than Damian Lillard.
The Blazers star led the team to a 6-2 record in the Seeding Games, snagging the 8th seed from the Memphis Grizzlies and then finishing them off in a play-in game this past Saturday. During the eight games, Dame went on a tear averaging 37 PPG shooting 49.% from the field and over 40% from deep while also dishing out 9.6 assist a game. In those games, he had back to back 50-point games, the latter a career-tying 61-point game. But now that the Blazers are in the dance with a first-round matchup against the title favorites Lakers, I take a look at how far Dame can lead his team in the playoffs.
During his sensational seeding game run, where he earned Bubble MVP honors, Dame caught the eye of the sports world and put the league on notice. His team needed every ounce of his great play to be in a position to compete for a title. What also helped fuel this Blazers run was the return of big men Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins as well as great play from Gary Trent Jr. The Blazers basically entered the bubble with a new team that had recovered from injuries they dealt with all season.
Before the bubble, a series between the Blazers and Lakers looked more like a gentlemen sweep in favor of the Lakers. LeBron had just got his team to its peak performance with great defensive play that showed in big wins against the Clippers and Bucks. The Blazers were on the outside looking in with the playoff picture with them struggling to gain wins. Now things have changed drastically. Not only is the Blazers one of the hottest teams but the Lakers have been struggling in the bubble since losing two of their better perimeter defenders in Avery Bradly, who opted out, and Rajon Rondo who is missing time with an injury. You may blame it on them already clinching the No. 1 seed in the West but this isn’t the same Lakers team that has been dominating all season. And now, they have an early titan waiting for them in Dame Lillard.
The Blazers with their new team should be able to compete against the Lakers. They are not your ordinary 8th seed and are very much live as LeBron recognizes in this video from Taylor rooks on what they have been able to accomplish in the restart.
As mentioned the Lakers haven’t been looking good and that includes the King and Anthony Davis. With the way Nurkic has been playing since his return, he has looked just as good as Davis has in what will be an intriguing matchup between the two as to who will dominate the boards for their team. Not to mention, the Blazers still have the services of Carmelo Anthony who has hit clutch shots for the Blazers as of late. So you would think this would be a great opportunity for Dame and the Blazers to strike right? Think again.
Lillard has been playing at an elite level, even gaining comparisons and/or being put in front of Steph Curry. but the difference between Curry’s team and Dame is that the Warriors actually play defense. The Blazers have one of the worst defense right now as they really don’t play that much defense. Most of their games have been shootouts, even against a team like the Nets behind Caris LeVert. Losing Ariza, a veteran wing defender, is proving to be a big loss for the Blazers. And although Lakers don’t have anybody to stop the pair of Dame and CJ McCollum, the Blazers don’t have anybody to stop the force of Lebron and Davis. Even with the poor play of late, the Bron-AD pick and roll connection has been pretty close to unstoppable all season.
The pressure is growing immensely on the Blazers to play good and make this a series. With all the love Dame has been getting, and deservedly, he hasn’t been able to get his team over the top a la as Curry has. Even with multiple changes, Dame has come up short, and his spectacular play cools off with his shooting percentage dropping in the postseason. What stands out to me most was last season in a WCF series between the Blazers and a KD-less Warriors, they got swept with Curry outplaying Dame in a head to head matchup. If Dame is going to take the next step and enter the top-five players in the game convo he has to come up big in this first-round matchup. The series should go no less than six games. I have Lakers winning 4-2.
The Blazers and Lakers meet for Game 1 Tuesday on TNT.
