Damian Lillard takes his 3-Point shooting to new highs

As of yesterday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has attempted 92 three-pointers on the season, tied for fourth most in the league. This comes out to an impressive 6.6 per game, but even more impressively, Lillard is shooting 45.7% on these threes.

This is a rare blend of volume and efficiency, and one that legitimately makes Lillard one of the more dangerous scoring threats in the league. Generally players who shoot such a percentage don’t take nearly this many threes, and players that do take this many threes can’t maintain such a high shooting percentage.

It is nearly assured that Lillard’s shooting percentage on threes will eventually settle somewhere a bit lower over the next 68 games, but we are long past the point of saying that he is anything but a deadly assassin from deep. He is an elite shooter, and this skillset will only help enable his offensive game to grow in other areas.

Teams are paying close attention to Lillard beyond the arc, and they are doing their absolute best to prevent him from launching those threes. In nearly every game this season, there has been a noticeable effort by the opposing perimeter defenders to deny Lillard these opportunities from deep, which raises two main points.

The first is that Lillard is delivering this staggering performance even with increased attention. Teams are trying harder than ever to run him off the line, yet despite this focused effort by the opposition, Lillard is having his best start to a season. This is what the great players do – they are able to perform even when they are the primary focus of other teams.

The second aspect is that the increased attention on Lillard around the three-point line should open up more opportunities for both Lillard himself and the team as a whole. If defenders are forced to stick on Lillard like glue a full 25 feet away from the basket, it prevents that defender from helping on Lillard’s teammates, and it gives Lillard an easier opportunity to get around that defender and drive to the hoop.

Lillard has looked much more willing to drive the ball toward the hoop this year, and I suspect the threat of his deadly three-point shooting is a huge reason why. The NBA, like any professional sport, comes down to the smallest of advantages, and even if Lillard’s defender must move only a step closer to Lillard, that could be all he needs to take advantage and slip by said defender.

It gets even better for Blazer fans – Lillard is just one part of an absolutely blistering three-point attack. After tonight’s game, the Trail Blazers are ranked 3^rd in the league in three-point shooting percentage, at 38.5%. Lillard is, yes, a huge part of this, but in addition to him, Allen Crabbe, LaMarcus Aldridge, C.J. McCollum, and Meyers Leonard(!) are all shooting above 38% from three on the season, although Leonard has only attempted seven threes. Wesley Matthews has struggled a bit with his shot early, but he is still shooting 34.4% despite taking 96 threes so far, even more than Lillard.