ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Blazers PG Damian Lillard not only walked away with the NBA Rookie of the Year award, pretty soon he’s going to be walking (and running) in his own limited edition sneaker. On May 23, adidas is dropping 510 pairs — 510 is the area code in Damon’s home town of Oakland — of their late ’90s “Real Deal” sneaker, embellished with a bunch of Lillard-inspired details.
According to adidas:
• The shoe’s sockliners feature Damian’s Twitter handle, an Oakland satellite print and “9800s” to represent his neighborhood blocks.
• The colors of the shoe pay homage to his career; red for high school, purple for college and black for the Portland Trail Blazers.
• The animal print on the upper and sockliner represent the Wildcat mascot he had in both high school and college.
• The shoe reads “Townbiz” on the upper, as another nod to Oakland. Clasped hands to represent the “Fly Guyz,” Damian’s name for his close circle of friends.
The shoe will retail for $120 and will drop on May 23 at Compound (Portland, Ore), Shoe Palace (Oakland, Calif.) and adidas.com. Fans can pre-order a pair today at adidas.com or you can meet Lillard on May 23 at Compound between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM for the official launch.
I recently turned 21. The night before my birthday, my girlfriend and I went out to a nice dinner to celebrate. The night of my birthday, we played Denver and I had a good game (13 points and 5 rebounds). After the game, I went home because I wasn’t feeling that great, so to honest with you, I didn’t really think twice about the game being on my birthday. I was just glad I played well, but mad that we lost.
Coming Into My Own
It feels really good to be playing well. Obviously, once you are playing with confidence, it all becomes a lot easier. The last few games, I’ve been finding my stride. The added confidence helps tremendously. I’ve been physically ready all season, working out hard, but now playing better has really helped me become more confident. I speak with coaches pretty often about how it’s all a process. Sometimes big men take two or three years to develop. I’m nowhere near where I want to be or where I know I can be, but I get better each and every day, and that’s all I can ask for at this stage.
My game has evolved a lot since the beginning of the season. I’m more aware of how to play strong and how to use my body, and my anticipation and court savvy have gone way up. It’s about getting game experience and just being out there on the court. It’s tough coming from college as a 20-year-old and having to learn a whole new style of play. It takes more anticipation and a better understanding of what each and every guy you guard is going to do. I think my defense has improved, knowing when to rotate and try to block shots. On offense, I’m starting to find myself in the right places more often and I’m reading the situations and plays in front of me better. It’s coming together for me, and I feel like I’m really starting to understand the NBA game.
Blazers assistant coach Kim Hughes has had a huge amount of influence on me. I work with him constantly, and he’s there for me no matter what. He always keeps me level-headed, whether I had a good or bad game, or made a good or bad play. I trust him 100 percent, on and off the court. Coach Hughes is very smart and understanding. He has been a head coach and played 10-plus years in the league, so he’s been there. We clicked right away. He’s got a little goofy side to him, but when it’s time to work, he’s ready to work. He pushes me a lot and it’s absolutely great to have him as a mentor. We’re really a perfect fit.
Playoff Run
There’s just a little bit of pressure in the back of my mind knowing that the season is winding down and we are making a push to make the playoffs. On the other hand, I take the approach that every single game is another stepping stone in the learning process. I realize that different games have different significances and meanings, but I play as I hard as I can and do my best no matter what. I’m just out there trying to be me and help my team win.
Our team mentality hasn’t really changed throughout the season. We are a hardworking and selfless team that plays well together. We’ve had some crazy wins and some bad losses, but quite frankly, overall, we’ve played pretty well. Whether we figure it all out by the end of the season or next year, I think we have a chance to be pretty good.
March Madness Around The Corner
I’m not always spot on everything going on with my Fighting Illini, but they’ve had a pretty good season. The Big 10 has been tough, but Illinois has had some signature wins, like beating Gonzaga, which is No. 1 in the country right now. They also beat Indiana when they were No. 1 and beat Minnesota on its home floor. I’m proud of my team! I hope they make a great run in the Tournament and they deserve it. They are good kids who work hard.
I still communicate with some of the guys on the team, especially Brandon Paul. He’s very talented and definitely going to get drafted. Rather than worry about that though, I have always told him to focus on his college season and everything else will fall into place.
It’s tough to predict who’s going to do what in the Tournament now because there’s really not one dominant team. Obviously, the teams that are ranked highest are the best ones. Michigan is doing pretty dang well. Indiana is pretty good — I really like the way Victor Oladipo plays. I was friends with him in college, and I’m proud of him. Duke is up there as one of the top teams. Then there’s Gonzaga. I think Miami is pretty tough, but I don’t think they can make a run at the title. Most importantly, watch out for my Illini!
That’s about it. We’re on a short road trip right now. I’m happy that I’m playing better, and I just want to continue play this way. My family is good, and I do something I love every day. Life is good!
If it seems like the Horry Scale has weighed the Blazers more than few times since we started this venture back in 2010, it’s not that far off. By our count, Portland has been on the Horry Scale — either as the Horry-er (aka the shot-maker) or as the Horry-ee (aka the victim) — three times, including once this season, entering Tuesday’s action. The Blazers’ mark in those Horry situations? They’re 2-1 … but let’s make that 3-1 after LaMarcus Aldridge went to a reliable Horry shot to sink his hometown Mavs.
If Aldridge’s game-winner last night that you see above looks an awful lot like another recent Horry shot from him, you’ve got a sharp memory. Just a little more than a year ago, Aldridge victimized the Mavs in Dallas with a fadeaway jumper at the horn over Brendan Haywood. Haywood has since moved on to Charlotte, but that didn’t stop Aldridge from victimizing another Mav (with a similar-sounding first name), Brandan Wright, with a nearly identical shot.
Of course, it takes a team effort to set the stage for a shot like Aldridge’s and the Blazers needed everyone’s effort on Tuesday to get into a spot where they could win this game. The Mavs essentially had the Blazers finished after building a 69-48 lead off O.J. Mayo‘s stepback 3-pointer with 8 minutes, 37 seconds left. By late in the fourth quarter rolled, though, we had a lead-changing frenzy.
For those that are new around these parts, the Horry scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Kings-Pistons game?) and celebration (is it over the top or too chill? Just the right panache or needs more sauce?). Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, the patron saint of last-second daggers.
How does Aldridge’s shot Tuesday night stack up? Let’s dive in …
Difficulty
At times to the chagrin of Blazer fans, Aldridge has made his All-Star bones as a perimeter shooter, so it’s fitting he’d favor that shot to clinch a victory. Shot selection is key when there’s 1.5 seconds to go, so kudos to coach Terry Stotts for putting Aldridge in position to succeed. Much like his shot against the Mavs in 2012, Aldridge sets up on the low post. Unlike against Dallas, though, Aldridge knows he doesn’t have time to move out to the perimeter, catch the ball and take two dribbles to set up his shot. So he gets position on Wright, receives the ball from inbounder Wesley Matthews, turns … fades … and that’s the ballgame.
For Dallas, Mayo provides token pressure on the inbounds, Vince Carter stays at home with Nicolas Batum on the left baseline, making this a one-on-one situation for Aldridge. Darren Collison appears to try and help Wright from underneath, but he can’t get there in time.
Overall, this is an All-Star-vs.-rotation-player situation, and not surprisingly, the All-Star gets what he wants. Wright defends it pretty well, but Aldridge knows what he’s doing here.
Game Situation
Tie ballgame between two low-to-mid-level West teams … not a shocker, right? Wrong. As we mentioned, the Blazers were down 21 in the third and looked cooked. Portland’s bench won’t win any productivity awards this season, but without those reserves, the Blazers wouldn’t have won. Big contributions from Sasha Pavlovic and Ronnie Price in the fourth quarter kept the Blazers ahead or tied with the Mavs down the stretch. No play was perhaps bigger for that crew than Price drawing a charge on Mayo with 1.5 seconds left.
The Mavs weren’t without their own displays of clutch-itude, what with Collison banking in a wacky 3-pointer with 3:01 left and Dirk Nowitzki draining what at the time seemed to be a back-breaking 3-pointer with 11.9 seconds left to give Dallas a 104-101 lead.
For Dallas, it is another rough loss in a season filled with them — the Mavs are now 2-5 in games decided by three points or less (Portland is 8-3 in such games).
Teammates Nicolas Batum (a Horry Scale inductee himself in 2011) said Aldridge was “smiling like a rookie” after hitting his shot. Aldridge, who starred at the University of Texas and Dallas-area high school Seagoville, simply turns and looks at the Mavs’ bench a little before laughing, smiling and walking up court. Matthews chest bumps him first before everyone short of ex-Blazer James “Hollywood” Robinson comes running toward him from the Blazers’ bench to celebrate.
There’s one last huddle up and then the Blazers head out to the locker room.
.
a
Grade
4 Horrys. Tough shot for most players, but pretty routine for Aldridge. This one kind of ranks up there in importance with the J.R. Smith shot against the Bobcats earlier this season in that the defense gave a standout player just the kind of shot he wanted. Overall, it should be three stars. But I give it that extra star bump for the clutch-iness of Aldridge in not just nailing the game-winner, but also the game-tying shot, too. If that’s not the sort of thing Horry used to do, I don’t know what is.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the Wizards — what with their 8-30 record entering Monday night — they haven’t had the best of seasons so far. Point guard phenom John Wallmissed 32 of those games recovering from knee surgery, big man Nene has been in and out of the lineup with ailments and, with all that in mind, Washington not surprisingly started the season 0-12. (The team Washington beat for its first win? Portland.)
One of the few bright spots for the Wizards has been Crawford, who is the team’s leading scorer. It hasn’t been all awful for Washington lately — entering Monday night’s game, the Wizards were 3-2 in the five games since Wall’s return and notched a win at the always-tough Pepsi Center in Denver.
Portland has seen better days. The Blazers were in the midst of a five-game swoon entering Monday. Nicolas Batum recorded his first career triple-double, but that was of little consolation in a nail-biting loss to the Wizards. How did Portland lose this one? Blazers fans, pick the moment. Was it Damian Lillard‘s dunk over Nene that pulled the score to 91-90 with 2:21 left? Was it Wes Matthews‘ game-tying 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds left that tied it at 95? Or was it Crawford’s game-winner that crushed any hopes of victory? We’ll get into all of this soon.
For those that are new around these parts, the Horry scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Kings-Pistons game?) and celebration (is it over the top or too chill? Just the right panache or needs more sauce?). Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, the patron saint of last-second daggers.
How does Crawford’s shot Monday night stack up? Let’s take a look.(more…)
Not to be outdone by their Northwest Division rivals in Denver, the Portland Trail Blazers took to the interwebs to reveal their latest alternate jersey, today, too. The new outfits, according to the Blazers’ news release, mark Portland’s first jersey update since 2002-03.
Much like the Nuggets’ third-color alternates, the Blazers took one of their colors (in this case, red) and went wild with it. Portland will wear these duds for their home opener on Oct. 31 against the Lakers. There’s a photo gallery here, but you get the idea of the new look below:
Cast your vote below and have at it in the comments, too.
Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
