Portland Trail Blazers: 3 critical keys to victory in tomorrow’s game vs. San Antonio Spurs

No. 2: Turn Damian Lillard’s misses into a source of offense

There are few players in the Association that evoke more fear into opposing defenses than Damian Lillard. Even so, he could have his work cut out, because the Spurs have something in abundance that most other teams don’t in their starting lineup: length.

For what it’s worth: the Spurs’ starting point guard, Dejounte Murray is 6-foot-4, has a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and he pairs that with triple-shot-of-espresso-type energy on the defensive end at all times. Everyone within the starting lineup has a wingspan of 6-foot-9 and up, and because they play well cohesively — they currently have the No. 9-ranked defense — the Spurs can make life difficult for offensive superstars.

In last season’s Spurs-Blazers matchups, the Spurs used both their team defense and length to bother Lillard. As a whole, Lillard scored 76 points over three games … but it took him 67 shots (and 32.8 percent shooting) to get there.

Don’t mistake me for the type to declare a game a “poor performance” just because of field goal percentage. Lillard always impacts games beyond scoring, and last season, the attention he commanded stuck out to me, because of how it opened lanes for second chance points for others.

Portland and San Antonio played three times last season. Both Hassan Whiteside and Skal Labissiere each recorded games in which they corralled six offensive rebounds, taking full advantage of a scrambled Spurs defense because of the attention they paid to Lillard.

It’s sort of similar to what we saw with Allen Iverson during his Philadelphia days. Teams focused their entire defenses on stopping his penetration and scoring, and even if he missed, players like Dikembe Mutombo, Tyrone Hill, and George Lynch could feast on the glass and get their lunch-pail, second-chance buckets.

Portland has the players capable of taking advantage of it. Enes Kanter is rebounding at a career-rate on the offensive glass, and teams as a whole rebound poorly on defense against Portland.

In situations where Lillard gets Murray trying to chase him from behind on a pick-and-roll, and the Spurs have a big try to hold him off, there’s a numbers advantage to be devoured. One just has to hope Portland comes in on an empty stomach.