Damian Lillard must get the Curry treatment

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Damian Lillard is doing his best Steph Curry impression as he’s lighting up the Golden State Warriors from beyond the arc. Last night in Game 3, he dropped 40 points on 8-13 shooting from three which led to a Portland win. A lot of threes came off of pick and rolls where no one was there to step up. Golden State has a guy who often does the same thing off ball screens and that’s Steph Curry. He loves to let if fly if he’s given room off the pick which is why a lot of teams either hedge hard or double to deny him that look. Steph’s Splash Brother, Klay Thompson who has been guarding Lillard in this series understands that comparison and mentions an adjustment will be coming on Monday:

Going forward Golden State must do the same thing with Dame Lillard. He’s proven he can knock those down and he’s not scared to take them. Lillard is 5th in scoring in the league during these playoffs when he’s the pick and roll ball handler.

via NBA.com
via NBA.com

He’s shooting 43.2% from three during the playoffs and 56.3% from three just in this series alone. If the Warriors want to shut him down and take away those looks, they must treat him as if he’s Steph Curry when coming off of screens. Whether that’s hedging hard, doubling, or even switching, they must choose one to slow him down. The difference between the two teams is that when Steph comes off a screen he has Draymond Green as the roller to make things happen. But Portland doesn’t have a Draymond Green which works in Golden State’s favor. Get the ball out of Lillard’s hands and force someone else to make a play has to be motto going forward. If you take him out the game, you shut down a lot of their offense. He’s that good that’ll he’ll find ways to score but you want to slow him down and make things difficult to where he’s not getting open threes off of ball screens. Golden State has the capability to make those adjustments and I’m sure we will be seeing a lot of that in Game 4.

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