KS, no need to get bipolar about the games. Everyone expects us to be losing, so those wins were just free and extra.
The number of wins this team has pulled out was unexpected. They are now coming back down to earth. Lillard is being scouted and many teams are playing him perfectly, "cut off the head of the snake" style. Our bench is the worst in the league. Our starters are overused and mentally exhausted, and the season isn't even half over. Lillard is hitting the rookie doldrums. Looking at reality and the rest of the schedule, a solid lottery pick is not yet out of reach. Think positive!!
Why, because people got carried away and started comparing him to hall-of-famers? That's on fans for having ridiculous expectations, Lillard should be able to have ups and downs.
I should have added, if we make the right trade with Hickson, a solid lottery pick is not yet out of reach.
Roy did not bully his way to the hoop "about half the time" in clutch moments. His go to move, by far, was his step back jumper. Also Roy didn't have a game winning shot his rookie season, Lillard does.
You mean "BuzzerBeaters"....... cause Roy won MANY games down the stretch for us. #howquicklyweforget
Some fun times: [video=youtube;u06ulB67OsM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u06ulB67OsM[/video] [video=youtube;faWN17SjEzA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faWN17SjEzA[/video] [video=youtube;WbSe6eeOzVU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSe6eeOzVU[/video] and he had many many many more
Okay, two of those layups were just incredibly lucky, and all three of them had terrible defense. Were all of those in his first 39 games as a pro?
And if we're now no longer talking about buzzer beaters, let's talk about generic "clutch" performance. From basketball-reference, their respective rookie years (ranks are for their respective years, not overall): Code: [FONT="Courier New"]Rk Player Season Tm G FG FGA FG% FGX 3P 3PA 3P% 3PX eFG% Ast'd %Ast'd 85 Brandon Roy 2006-07 POR 25 27 68 .397 41 5 14 .357 9 .434 6 .222 18 Damian Lillard 2012-13 POR 19 21 51 .412 30 8 24 .333 16 .490 8 .381 [/FONT] Let's not downplay how clutch Roy became, but let's also not downplay how Lillard as actually a bit more clutch than Roy during his rookie year. Let's also not assume this is Lillard's ceiling.
Either way, doesn't matter... Lillard is more clutch in general than Roy was as a rookie. Yeah, he relies on the 3 point shot way more, but he has a higher raw FG% anyway. And he seems to have had a lot more practice than Roy got, given how close we've kept games this season.