david lee defense stifles lamarcus aldridge (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Sunday, the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 103-88 behind stellar team defense and some impressive defense on LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Warriors held the NBA’s highest-scoring offense to a season-low in points, and they forced them to shoot a season-low 33.7 percent.
David Lee drew the tough assignment of guarding Aldridge, Portland’s best player and one of the best power forwards in the NBA, holding Aldridge to just 10 points on 2-for-14 shooting, 14.5 points below his season average. Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green also spent time guarding Aldridge, but Lee was the main disruptor.
Although Lee is often criticized for his defense, he held Aldridge, who is averaging 24.3 points per game this season, to just 10 points on 2-for-14 shooting.
Lee was playing with a sprained left shoulder, so it was impressive how he was able to play physically with Aldridge, especially in post-ups, and force Aldridge as far away from the basket as possible.
When describing his defensive effort at Monday’s practice, Lee spoke very highly of Aldridge as a player.
“Well I’ve said before I think he’s the best power forward in the game this year,” Lee said about Aldridge. “I think he’s proven that with his consistency, how well he’s played. I have a lot of respect for his game, and that respect goes both ways. I just tried to force him into tough shots and be physical with him before the catch. I’m just happy we were able to do the job and most importantly get a victory out of it.”
Lee made some adjustments after watching the tape from the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game in which the Warriors gave up 120 points.
“It was all about more physicality and effort on our part, from the starters to the bench to everybody. The Minnesota film was a humbling one just knowing that we scored as many points as we had in the Minnesota game, the Denver game, the Oklahoma City game,” Lee said, “We’re scoring 115, 120 points, things like that, that should be a 15-point victory for us especially at Oracle.”
Lee’s defensive effort didn’t go unnoticed by his coach or teammates. Mark Jackson showed his appreciation for Lee’s defense after the game against the Blazers.
“I thought he was spectacular,” Jackson said about Lee. “He was playing against a big time player in LaMarcus Aldridge. A player that is in the discussion for MVP. I thought David (Lee) battled him, fought him defensively, made him work and kept him off the boards. One of his better games. Great to watch.”
Stephen Curry shared the same sentiment as Coach Jackson and said after the Blazers game that Lee’s defensive effort on Aldridge shows why he should be an All-Star this year.
“That’s why he is definitely All-Star worthy, going against one of the top power forwards in the league,” Curry said. “I think D-Lee is right there with him.”
The Warriors know they will have at least one All-Star this year, since Curry was voted in by the fans to start the All-Star Game this year. However, the Warriors are hoping to send two All-Stars to New Orleans this year.
Lee is making his case for why he should be an All-Star. After a rocky start to the season, Lee has returned to being the double-double machine that Warriors fans are used to seeing. For the season, he’s averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds on 52.1 percent shooting.
Despite this impressive stat line, it’s unlikely Lee will be named an All-Star this year, according to Steve Berman of Bay Area Sports Guy. He’d have to beat out other quality frontcourt players in the Western Conference such as Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Serge Ibaka, DeMarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis.
Even though the Warriors are in the playoff hunt this year, normally a contributing factor to if a player makes an All-Star team, Berman thinks Lee won’t make the cut.
When the starters were announced, only one person on TNT’s studio show had Lee making the Western Conference squad. That was Kenny Smith, who forgot to include James Harden.
Perhaps the Warriors being a team around ten games over .500 will help sway the vote.
“I’d really like to make it. It’s something that I work hard to help your team win games and so you hope when the coaches vote that they vote for guys that are on winning teams,” Lee said, “I’ve been frustrated in the past when I was in New York, especially a couple years where statistically I had the numbers, but was on a losing team.
“I understood that, so hopefully it’ll work in my favor the other direction, but it’s not gonna be a big disappointment if I don’t make because I have much bigger goals for this season,” Lee added, “It would be exciting to be there along with my teammate Steph. To represent the Warriors, that’d be a great honor.”
Although it’s a long shot for Lee to make the All-Star team, it’s great to see the impact Lee can have on a game not just offensively but also defensively.
[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish contributed to this report.]Follow @MaggiePilloton
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