Portland Trail Blazers 2019/20 NBA season review: Damian Lillard

In the first of our Portland Trail Blazers 19/20 season reviews, we begin with Damian Lillard. Dame had his best season, willing his team to the playoffs.

Damian Lillard was on another level in the 2019/20 season. The Portland Trail Blazers had one of their worst injury seasons in recent memory, but Dame willed the team to the league’s third-best offense and an unlikely playoff berth.

Here’s how he fared statistically on a per-game basis, with career highs in bold.

30 points, 4.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.3 blocks

46.3 percent from the field, 52.4 percent from two, 40.1 percent from three, 88.8 percent free-throw

56.3 effective field goal percentage, 62.7 true shooting percentage

Dame, at age 30, had five career highs. Let that sink in for a second. He took his game to a whole new level at 30. Not only had he never averaged 30 points per game before, but no Trail Blazer had also achieved this either.

He also had a historic high-scoring season, only ever achieved by two other players in NBA history.

Dame’s 2019/20 season was punctuated by two distinct periods: the new year and the seeding games in the bubble. These two periods were some of the greatest in Blazers and NBA history.

In a six-game stretch in January and February, he averaged 48.8 points a game on 57 percent from three and hit an insane eight threes a game.

Then in the 12 bubble games, he averaged 33.2 points on 42.5 percent from three. Both runs were equally as ridiculous, but the second one in the NBA’s return in August was something special.

In the seeding games, where every one was a must-win, he beat the Denver Nuggets with 45 points, the Philadelphia 76ers with 51 points, the Dallas Mavericks with 61 points and then downed the Brooklyn Nets to get into the play-in game, with 42 points in a contest that went down to the final possession.

This type of scoring was on a Michael Jordan or LeBron James type of level. He hit impossible shots from all over the court and willed his team to the playoffs.

That Dame had his best year individually, in a year where the Blazers starting small forward, power forward and center were all out injured, just tells you how great he is.

Usually, when a player has to put his team on his back, his efficiency suffers. Not Dame, as he took on more of the offensive load, he actually got better. This is also the mark of an all-time great player.

Dame’s uptick in efficiency was due in part to his change in shot profile. He took more shots from three and at the rim, and fewer shots from midrange. As a small guard, if you can take an uncontested three or a contested midrange, then you should go for the uncontested three. He still took 19 percent of his shots from midrange, but this was down from 27 percent in the previous year.

In terms of playmaking, this was also one of Dame’s best years. He combined well with Hassan Whiteside, getting Whiteside many an open look in the pick and roll or with lobs at the rim. He averaged eight assists a game, which was a career-high, while he also had a career-high in assist percentage. Again, very impressive, considering his caliber of teammates.

Now he won’t get credit for this nationally, as a lot of national analysts don’t watch every Blazer game, but Dame’s defense this year deserves some recognition. The advanced numbers won’t show that he’s a good defender due to the terrible team defense, but Dame has worked hard on his defense for several years, and it shows in his team and man defense.

He rarely makes mistakes, he defends without fouling at an excellent rate, and he does well against bigger players. We know he will never be an All-Defensive team selection, but Dame isn’t a sieve anymore on that end of the court. Watch him defend Jayson Tatum down the stretch of the seeding game against the Boston Celtics. He is a much-improved defender and that was on display this season.

There will always be an asterisk on this year for the Blazers due to their sub-.500 record, but for Dame to do what he did while missing three key rotation players, is something special.

His season should be remembered for dragging a team to the playoffs that had no business in being there.