Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum have been in this for a while, and even by their high standards, they are starting the season wildly. On Wednesday night, Lillard had 40 points and 13 assists, and McCollum added 28 points and 10 assists in the Trail Blazers rematch over the Kings – making them Portland’s first pair or teammates for each post by at least 25 points. and 10 assists in the same game since Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter in 1992.
Furthermore, they are only the fourth teammate in history to each score at least 250 points in the first 10 games of a season, joining Shaq and Kobe (2001-02), Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson (three times) and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown this season.
Lillard is now the single player score at least 40 points and 13 assists with zero turnovers in a single game since turnovers became an official statistic in 1977. The 40 points of 3 points that McCollum scored in the first nine games of the season align him with Curry as only players in history do that.
So yes, Lillard and McCollum continue to be incredible, as if we need more evidence of that long-established fact. So incredible, in fact, that it became very difficult to argue that they didn’t stand out as the best defense zone, at least at this point in the NBA. On Wednesday night, Lillard scoffed at the idea that anyone could believe otherwise when he called a reporter whose tweet apparently suggested that Lillard and McCollum might not be the best defense.
To Lillard’s point, anyone trying to even start a conversation about the Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook Wizards’ defense court being potentially better than Lillard and McCollum is an ignorant. It’s not even close. Entering play on Wednesday, McCollum is third in the league in scoring (28.1) and Lillard is seventh (27.4). And believe it or not, it was actually a relatively pedestrian start to the season by Lillard standards.
With the way McCollum is picking up and scoring 3 points in a career record (11.5 per game at 44 percent) to start this season, he has irrefutably separated from Westbrook, and Lillard has long been better than Beal. Chris Paul and Devin Booker have an affair in Phoenix, but I will take Lillard instead of Paul by a larger margin than I would put Booker instead of McCollum.
At this point, Lillard is right. He and McCollum are the cream of the defense team.
There are two qualifications to consider. First, Thompson is not playing now, but when he returns, he and Curry will certainly have an affair against the Blazers. Second, James Harden just joined Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. We’ll see how it works, but there is certainly the potential for this defense court to set itself as the standard.
For now, Lillard and McCollum are at the top.