damian lillard has been going off lately. he averaged a cool 29/3/6 on 51/48/93 shooting splits (5.4 made 3s per game) over a recent five-game stretch where the trail blazers won 4 of 5:
oh wait, that's not dame. it's anfernee simons.
two months ago, i noted how at some point ant's game would come together. but i honestly didn't think it would happen this season. i thought maybe next year, or the one after, we'd start seeing him emerge as a consistent 20+ppg scorer.
turns out i was too pessimistic, because ant is putting it together now. with all of portland's injuries, he's been given the opportunity of a lifetime to show what he's got. and man, he's got a lot.
because he's so quick and bouncy, every little move he does creates a massive amount of space even when it doesn't look like he's moving that fast. his shooting stroke is a thing of beauty too - he can get a decent shot off any time he wants to, over anyone:
there’s a level of calm confidence to him now that’s on full display.
it's also so cool that he's clearly taken some things from lillard's game and added them to his own. when he hit this shot over the memphis grizzlies:
... i was like "that was dame over brandon ingram":
keep it up, ant. you have a chance to be something special.
unrelated medium light:
steph curry letting andrew wiggins know where to pass it:
technically this is a wiggins lowlight - dude was like a full second late on releasing the pass - but i'll classify it as a steph mediumlight instead for the pointing.
if it were draymond green with the ball, this is where the pass would've been out:
three kevon looney steps later until wiggins finally sees it and lets it go:
in the playoffs that's probably a turnover…
oh well, can't argue with the result here - nice assist, andrew.
random thoughts:
i love jimmy butler and max strus' "handshake":
brandon ingram has improved a lot as a playmaker. he can legitimately be your primary ball handler for stretches and create for teammates now, and it's super impressive.
it's not a medium light (because it's 100% a highlight), but i can't not mention demar derozan's eight-game 35+ points on >50% shooting streak. that's insane.
it was nice to see dejounte murray make the all-star team! "star potential in his near future" indeed.
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