The 2020 NBA All-Star Game, the first to institute the Elam Ending, in which a scoring goal determines the winner, ended in a free throw. Sunday’s 2021 All-Star Game, while not having the highly contested fourth quarter that the 2020 version gave us, ended, say, a little more climax, with Damian Lillard tying a half-court jumper to give Team LeBron a 170 – 150 victory over Team Durant.
This, my good people, is the last installment of Lillard’s growing legend. Don’t talk to me about this happening in an ultimately meaningless All-Star game. That was epic. Lillard’s reputation as a clutch-time killer is so cemented that even Stephen Curry knew the shot had landed before Dame even took his dribble:
About an hour earlier, Curry and Lillard gave us one of the all-star moments of all time, when they combined each other’s midfield bombs to end the first half:
Curry and Lillard ended the night with 16 points combined, eight each in identical 50 percent clips, but the withdrawal made it Lillard’s night. He ended up with 32 points and was stolen – yes, stolen – from MVP, who went to Giannis Antetokounmpo to connect in a perfect 16-to-16 field, which means that he made many unquestionable dunks.
Lillard hit two damn half-mails.
One to win the game.
It is perhaps an unfortunate omen that Lillard has been overlooked for the MVP All-Star, as there is a very good chance that he will have a bad deal within a few months in the regular season MVP vote. What he did while leading the Blazers, without CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins, for a 21-14 first-half record, should not have put him below second on anyone’s chart. But, oh, how we love Nikola Jokic’s advanced stats on a Denver team with a worse record, despite having a much healthier squad.
It is not a criticism of Jokić. He is incredible. Nuggets are also not completely healthy and have a difficult schedule. LeBron James was also great. Joel Embiid is the right leader, although he plays in the Eastern Conference, which is much weaker. It is simply frustrating that Lillard, although he has finally been accepted as one of the true first-rate players in the NBA, never seems to get his due.
This guy earns as much in relation to the squad he is working with as anyone in the league, and he is the best clutch player in the world. Perhaps you can discuss some of these other things. You cannot discuss the clutch part. The midfielder (s) on Sunday was yet another reminder that when the game is in play, Lillard is in a league of her own. Even Paul George was forced to admit that the 35-foot series champion Lillard reached to eliminate George’s Thunder in 2019 was not, as George initially stated, such a bad shot, after all.
I shouldn’t have taken the bomb on Sunday to realize that there is no such thing as a bad shot by Lillard, especially in the biggest moments. Throughout his career, Lillard made 29 draw or win shots with less than 20 seconds to play, the highest number in the league since he joined in 2012-13. So far this season, he is throwing 63 percent of the field (31 of 49), 58 percent of 3 (14 of 24) and 100 percent of the free-throw line (28 of 28) in the clutch.
And this is just the beginning. Go a little deeper and you will find that when the Blazers are losing or tied in the final five minutes of a five-point game, Lillard is throwing 70% of the field (19 to 27) and 69% of 3-point Land ( 9-to-13). Go even deeper, and Lillard is 7-to-9 on the field, including 5-to-5 beyond the arc, with four seconds or less on the shot clock in these clutch situations.
These are pictures of despair for just about anyone else, and yet, honestly, it got to the point where, if the Blazers need a big shot, you’ll be legitimately shocked if Lillard misses. Curry declaring that walk-off before Lillard even let him go is no accident. Hell, he only saw it first hand when Lillard punched his Warriors in the stomach with a game winner stepping back less than a week ago.
Curry’s rise to legendary status was meteoric, while Lillard’s was more stable. It gets better every year. He stopped having problems with traps to destroy them. He learned when and where to turn the corner and get to the edge. Lillard did not achieve Curry status. He never had the right supporting talent to win at the same level, and he is not the best sniper of all time. This is Curry.
But Lillard’s reach has become unmatched. Over the past season and a half, Lillard is an amazing 10- for-16 of 35-39 feet, according to NBA.com. If you’ve never been on an NBA court and looked at the 35-39 foot ledge, let me tell you, it’s a pump. There is no way to evaluate this distance on TV. To get those photos right, small samples or not, in a 62.5 percent clip is nothing short of stupid.
This is the combination that has become the basis of Lillard’s legacy: no one shoots from a distance and no one shoots better with the game on the line. The man is a murderer. Curry knows that. George knows that. Everybody knows it. Lillard did it again on Sunday. A half-court withdrawal as if it was nothing. Normal form of wrist movement. It was not his most significant photo, but it immediately becomes one of the most memorable in a career already filled with unforgettable moments.