How do you defend a player who is ready and willing to shoot off the dribble from nearly halfcourt? That’s the question the Los Angeles Lakers are trying to answer as they take on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Blazers shocked the Lakers, 100-93, in Game 1 on Tuesday night behind another vintage Lillard performance. He finished with 34 points on 6-of-13 shooting from three-point range, including one of the his patented “Logo Lillard” shots with the game hanging in the balance late in the fourth quarter.
With the score tied at 89 with just over three minutes left, Lillard pulled up from a few steps inside the halfcourt line to drain a three-pointer. The Lakers wouldn’t lead again. The shot propelled Portland to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
There’s so much going on here in such a short clip. First, look at where Hassan Whiteside sets the screen for Lillard — before Dame even crosses halfcourt, Whiteside is gearing up to free him with the pick. As Anthony Davis switches onto Lillard, he knows he has to stay high enough to protect against the pull-up while also being ready to defend against the drive.
It puts the big man in a no-win situation, and this is Anthony Davis we’re talking about here. Imagine how mere mortals feel trying to guard Logo Lillard.
Davis did close out hard on Dame once it became apparent he was going to shoot, but it all happened so quickly that there wasn’t enough time for him to recover. There is basically no way for a defense to stop this as long as the shot is going in.
According to NBA.com, Lillard is 3-of-4 on shots between 35-feet and 39-feet inside the bubble. That is absurd. Here’s another one: Lillard is 6-of-17 on shots between 30-feet and 34-feet. As a reminder, the NBA three-point line is set at 23 feet and nine inches.
He’s been doing this all season long:
Damian Lillard is now 55 of 134 (41%) on 30-footers this season
— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) August 19, 2020
Lillard is making teams defend so much more space on the floor than they’ve ever had to before. Even when they defend it perfectly, Lillard’s deep range and quick trigger gets the last word.
‘Logo Lillard’ existed before the bubble
It’s hard to say when the myth of Logo Lillard was born. Dame has been shooting three-pointers way behind the arc for the last several years in the wake of Stephen Curry’s consecutive MVP runs with the Warriors. The first time Dame acknowledged it came after he hit this shot in the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.
The next day, the nickname “Logo Lillard” was officially coined.
I’m liking this “Logo Lillard” nickname I’ve been seeing … Ifw it
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 18, 2019
The whole world got to see just how deep Lillard’s shooting range could extend when the Blazers took on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. The Thunder were considered one of the preseason favorites in the West behind Paul George and Russell Westbrook, but Lillard and the Blazers left little doubt they were the superior team from the start of the series.
With Portland holding a 3-1 series lead in Game 5, Lillard isolated against George about 40-feet from the basket in the final seconds with the score tied. You already know what happens next. This is one of the best NBA moments of the last decade:
After the game. George called Lillard’s game-winner a “bad shot.” George isn’t necessarily wrong — most coaches would want their star player to go to the basket in that situation to try to draw contact and get to the foul line. Shooting from 40 feet away is essentially bailing the defense out.
Not anymore. Lillard is making super deep pull-up threes like the one he ripped over George part of his regular repertoire. Opposing defenses now have to go back to the drawing board to try to take away a shot they are typically fine with giving up.
Need more Logo Lillard in your life? Here’s a video the Blazers posted of Dame’s best deep shots before the team headed to the bubble.
‘Logo Lillard’ is taking on new life inside the bubble
Lillard has been the hottest scorer alive inside the bubble, powering the Blazers into the playoffs with an unreal stretch in the seeding games that led to him earning bubble MVP honors.
Lillard popped off for 51 points against the 76ers and 61 points against the Mavericks before a must-win finale in the seeding games against Brooklyn. That’s when Logo Lillard made another appearance.
There’s no way around the fact that Lillard has to continue playing at an all-time level for the Blazers to actually have a chance to pull the upset against the Lakers in round one. Portland’s defense has been a major issue since entering the bubble. The Blazers aren’t stopping anyone. Their only way forward to out-score the opposition, and that starts and ends with Lillard’s brilliance.
Before the Game 1 tipped off, the NBA posted a video of Lillard draining five consecutive three-pointers from a few steps inside the halfcourt line. It was an ominous sign for the Lakers. We should have known then how this game would end.
The Blazers are alive and well inside the bubble. The longer this run goes, the more Logo Lillard we’re going to get.
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