Damian Lillard, Whatcha Got?

The Portland Trail Blazers have hit the roughest part of their season the past week, losing 4 straight games for the first time this season. They fell from the 3rd spot in the Western Conference to the 5th spot, with the Golden State Warriors nipping at their heels. All of this was magnified when LaMarcus Aldridge fell to the court with a boom Wednesday night against the Spurs.

X-Ray and MRI results are back and the diagnosis was not near as bad as it could be; however, the Blazers will now be without their three time All-Star for at least two games.

A lot of times when star players are injured we look for their backups to step up and fill in. We have already seen that this season when Aldridge missed 5 games and Thomas Robinson really stepped up, played a lot of quality minutes and made some noise for the small Blazers’ lineup.

This time is a little different.

March and April are crunch time in the NBA and you can’t rely on an inconsistent bench player to carry you into the postseason. It is time for Portland’s other All-Star to step up to the plate and seize the opportunity as a number one option.

Damian Lillard had a very productive stretch when Aldridge was out for 5 games earlier in the season. He was scoring at will and led the team to a 4-1 record without Aldridge. Since then, however, Lillard has been on the typical roller-coaster that can be expected from a young player. His defense has been mediocre at best, he hasn’t been the elite scorer he can be, and he has been really loose with the ball when it matters.

I am a big Lillard fan and I think that he has the potential of being one of the top couple point guards in the league. He is not there yet, but has that type of potential. Opportunities like the next two games against New Orleans and Golden State are exactly what he needs to take advantage of if he wants to take the next step. There will be no safety valve of Aldridge down in the post, Lillard will have to step up and score.

Lately there seemed to be a bit of a backlash against this Blazers team in the local media. I don’t quite know where it stems from and I’m not sure how much of it is real versus perceived. But Lillard has taken offense to some of it and been biting back.

John Canzano was on a rant asking his listeners why the city of Portland is so apt to giving standing ovations to good (not great) performances. And in the rant he mentions Lillard over and over again. Lillard took to Twitter and said, “Who is John canzano and why do ppl keep mentioning him to me.” Canzano and Lillard supposedly laughed it off later at the practice facility, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Just last week, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick questioned the intensity of Damian Lillard’s defense. Lillard said in a postgame interview Tuesday, “I’ve had plenty of good defensive games.”

I am a big Lillard fan, have been since the Blazers drafted him out of Weber State. And I think that the Portland media is a little harsh when it comes to the Blazers. There isn’t a whole lot else to talk about in a town that has been dominated by the Blazers, and no other professional sports team since 1970. But as a competitor, Lillard needs to take that criticism and use it as a motivator. We have all seen what he is capable of. We have all seen him barking after hitting a game winning shot. We have all seen that look in his eye when it becomes “Lillard Time.”  This Blazers team needs more of that to finish this season strong and to peak at the right time going into the playoffs.