Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard received some high praise from veteran teammate Carmelo Anthony over the weekend, with Portland taking a hard-fought 126-122 victory over the Grizzlies on Saturday to cement the team’s status as the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Anthony, who has made stops with the Nuggets, Knicks, Thunder, Rockets and Blazers across his 17-year NBA career, has naturally played with some all-time great players and leaders. At the top of Anthony’s list of great teammates, however, is none other than Lillard himself.
“Dame’s at the top for me,” Anthony told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes. “I’ve never played with someone who lifted his team on the court with his play and as a leader. He genuinely cares for his teammates. What he’s been able to do is amazing. He’s the top guy I’ve played with.”
Lillard has dominated during the NBA’s restart, being named the Player of the Seeding Games while averaging 37.6 points and 9.6 assists per contest. He also recorded 31 points and 10 assists in the team’s play-in game against Memphis.
For Lillard, his production extends past the hardwood. He’s known as a high-character leader both on the court and off, maximizing his teammates’ games and personalities to achieve success.
“If I’m showing frustration, it might spread to the team,” Lillard said. “My job is to keep everyone motivated and encouraged so that we can play to the best of our abilities. There are a lot of things that you can’t control during a season, but we can control how hard we work.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division tonight:
- The Thunder are monitoring various injuries to Chris Paul and Luguentz Dort ahead of their first-round series against the Rockets, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman writes. It’s unclear whether Dort will play in Game 1 on Tuesday, with the 21-year-old missing Friday’s contest against the Clippers due to a right knee sprain. As for Paul, he missed Friday’s game due to a left hand sprain, but the injury isn’t believed to be serious. “We don’t think so, but we’re just being cautious with him,” head coach Billy Donovan said on whether Paul’s injury is significant. “He should be fine when we get around to playing Game 1. Lu’s a different situation. I have uncertainty whether or not he’ll even be available for Game 1.”
- Nick Kosmider of The Athletic explores how Jamal Murray used his past failures to enter the 2020 postseason as an improved player. The Nuggets lost to the Blazers in last year’s playoffs during a hard-fought seven-game series, one the team hasn’t forgotten about since. “Even though we lost to Portland in a heartbreaking Game 7, I think our players took positives out of it, learning opportunities,” head coach Mike Malone said. “Jamal, for one, has made post defense a huge point of emphasis and focus for himself.”
- Thunder guard Dennis Schroder returned to the court for the team’s final seeding game after quarantining for four days, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com writes. Schroder left the Orlando campus on Aug. 3 for the birth of his second child, returning on Aug. 10 to start a mandatory four-day quarantine. He finished with 17 points and four assists in 25 minutes of work on Friday, getting some in-game action before the team’s first-round playoff series begins. “The NBA did a great job, OKC did a great job bringing me to my wife to support her,” Schroder said postgame. “Came back and had to quarantine for four days. It was pretty rough, staying in a small room was pretty tough. I’m back now. Left my room today and got a little [practice] session in at 11 [a.m.] and was able to come back tonight.”
But Skip Bayless doesn’t think Lillard is a superstar in the league, among other hot takes. I love sports talk tv and radio, but I’ll never understand the support for phony clowns like that.
The Blazers could sneak in and make some serious noise this season in the playoffs. Seems like they’ve been knocking on the door for a little bit now. This could be their chance to reach the finals if yhey can get past the Clips? Go Blazers !!
They played all season without Nurkic. With him all year they’d be a 4 or 5 seed. Probably not enough to get past the Lakers but they’re definitely good enough to steal a game.
Nurkic has been huge (as well as huge lol). He even looks good in his fails. His return makes them a different team.
Mccollum shouting at Morant, trying to out-Morant him with a bad back, and getting good results… that made a good mini-video alone.
Rodney Hood should be able to do his thing pretty quickly if/when he returns. Melo is focussed. This could be their “year”… their camp.
Blazers might be able to beat the Lakers, their reward opponent, just with momentum.
The Lakers get about the worst benefit from being a conference winner ever… no home advantage.
Everything you hear from Skip Bayless has to be taken with a grain of salt. He just likes to say controversial stuff to make people mad. He does have a point with Dame, who is a great player obviously, but he’s at the very top with players like Giannis and Harden (and Doncic who will replace LeBron as one of the finalists for the MVP in 2021).
make that *not* at the very top
Long before the 2021 NBA Awards, there will be a little 1st Round series between ummm…HOU and OKC…I notice you’ve not been as bullish as you usually are and now your looking deep into the future, have you already written this season off ?
You may very well perceive my posts as “bullish” even though I’m no more optimistic about the Rockets than most experts out there. Why would I write off this season just because Westbrook is expected to miss a few games?
0% different than Stephen A Smith…..say stupid stuff to get clicks. What all of those dudes do…..and look, it worked.
Dame is one of best players in NBA. Why would you talk him down now. Is it cause he sent Rockets home.
He’s best player in NBA right now. Show some respect. Next yr us next yr.?You want to give out awards for 2021 now. Dude enjoy the season one yr at a time. I’m not even a Dame fan. But what he’s done in last 2 wks. Is historic and special. Respect the game lol.
As ridiculous as it is to say he isn’t elite, it is equally ridiculous to say he is the best player in the league. He’s the third best player in the playoff series he is about to begin. Everybody would love to have him on their teams. But tap the brakes a bit.
He’s been the the best player in bubble. Try reading. He’s one of best players in league. Really you need clarification. He’s done what nobody has done. You need a history lesson. That’s enough to say he’s playing best right now. All great athletes go thru run. Dame is one. If you are a basketball fan. You should only be enjoying it.
This is dame’s year. He has made the accent. The fact that sides are debating if he’s a top 5 player is proof enough.
I hope it’s a French accent those are the most fun
Damnit
No, ascent!
So if this is Dame’s year, and he’s not even an MVP finalist, how does that automatically make him a top 5 player? Obviously he’s not in the top 3, so at best he’s barely in the top 5, if indeed he is.
So Melo is saying Dame is better than Jeremy Lin??? ;)
Hey Melo, 2 words for you: CHAUNCY BILLUPS!
Murray just came up big. Too bad Jazz didn’t help out Mitchell. I guess we can stop all trade rumors about Mitchell now. He’s going where he wants to go. Jazz will do all they can to resign him. Big time game. But Denver showed they are a better Team. Team
Dort is out, at least for game one, while the Rockets still have a very solid 8-man rotation (while they wait for Westbrook to return) with Harden, Gordon, House, Covington, Tucker, Rivers, McLemore, and Jeff Green.
You should have written it this way…
(and Jeff Green.) Lol. :)
Green has been a very important part of their rotation after the Jazz let him go in December and he joined the team almost two months later. His 60 games of playoff experience will also help against the Thunder.
Agreed.