Damian Lillard recorded an insane no-look assist early in the Portland Trail Blazers’ Thursday night game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What sucks about being a talented guard in the Western Conference is the ease with which you can be overshadowed by elite guards in your conference. Damian Lillard has been widely underrated for a majority reasons, but most notably this season for the amazing play of Russell Westbrook and his crazy 30 triple-doubles, or James Harden and his unreal stats along with leading his team to the third seed in the West.
Lillard’s team has struggled heavily this season with lofty playoff expectations, but besides the Portland Trail Blazers’ struggles and Lillard’s suspect defense, his playmaking skills are as elite as they come.
People tend to forget he’s capable of making plays like this no-look, one-handed dime he recorded Thursday night against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder:
Dame DIME. TNT. #NBARapidReplay pic.twitter.com/RCfgza9E4a
— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2017
One of the misunderstood things about Damian Lillard is his passing ability. Yeah, the strength of Lillard’s game is his scoring and his scoring is what the team feeds off to win games, along with his backcourt mate C.J Mccollum, who’s come into his own as well. Still, Lillard can make passes just as well as his rival guards in the West, which is another thing he doesn’t get enough credit for.
It’s many reasons why the Trail Blazers are struggling but you could make an arguement that they would be even worse without him. Sometimes you just wonder if Isaiah Thomas will get the recognition he deserves because it’s sad how talented he is, yet still doesn’t get the credit he deserves despite his overall team performance.
Sometimes you wish you could put him in the East because the West is crowded with high profile guards like Russell Westbrook, James Haden and Stephen Curry, but then again in the East there’s not much room either with Isaiah Thomas coming into his own, John Wall being a legitimate superstar, Kemba Walker coming along earning his first All-Star appearance and of course Kyle Lowrey, who’s as solid as they come.
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Just give some praise to Lillard when it’s due is all I’m saying.
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