Damian Lillard needs some help

By Joshua Bishop

It seems that you cannot talk about the Portland Trail Blazers without talking about Damian Lillard. Just three days after scoring 50 points off of eight 3-pointers in 29 minutes against the Kings on Friday night, Lillard scored 39 points in 38 minutes against the Jazz on Monday. Surprisingly though, the Blazers lost that game to the Jazz by a final score of 115–96.

This situation is not completely new to the Trail Blazers, though. While Lillard is sixth in the NBA in scoring at 25.8 points per game, the Trail Blazers are second to last in scoring of the teams currently in the playoff picture in the Western Conference. The only team who scores less than the Blazers, namely the San Antonio Spurs, are a much older team than the Blazers on average and play better defense.

A particular play in the game against the Jazz, in which Lillard scored an efficient 39 in a loss, effectively summarizes the Blazers poor team offense over the course of the season.

Lillard caught a wild pass from Evan Turner at the top of the key, with the Blazers down 74 to 59. Lillard then beat rookie Donovan Mitchell off the dribble, going left, and jumped high towards the goal. Both Derrick Favors and Royce O’Neal, who are both 6’10” and 6’6” respectively, played good defense and met him at the rim, but Lillard absorbed the contact and finished the play anyway.

Even though Lillard finished the lay-up, the Blazers lost the game at home by 19 points. The Blazers are going to have to find Lillard some offensive support in order for this team to go anywhere in a very competitive Western Conference. In this particular game, Lillard scored 39, C.J. McCollum scored 22, and the next closest was Shabazz Napier with 10. No one else scored in double figures for the Blazers.