Why Damian Lillard's Game-Winning shot is much more complex and even more impressive than it appears.
As the All-NBA point guard strategically dribbled up the court with the score tied up at 115 a piece he was thinking one thing... WIN. Damian Lillard has been esteemed as a dominant player in the clutch: earning the nickname "Dame-Time" however; what happened Tuesday, April 23rd in a sold-out arena in Portland Oregon was something different, this was magical, a shot we rarely see go in and when it does you almost do not believe what just happened. Lillard took his time, got his rhythm dribbles in took a side step and absolutely knew he was going to bury a shot over a 6'10 All-defensive player in Paul George. No hesitation, just go. Pure confidence in an unimaginably pressure-filled situation, the Portland leader and Point guard didn't let the moment phase him. Instead, he embraced it, starred the defender down in his eyes and stunned the world by completely BURYING a 35-foot game-winner to make his team advance into the second round of the highly competitive Western conference playoffs.
As fans, we solely admire the shot and massive confidence Lillard embodies while taking and making this. However, we tend to forget the hundreds of thousands of reps it took to make a shot like this, it doesn't just happen its a product of living in the gym, extreme focus and self-esteem all in which never came easy to a guy like Lillard. An underrated talent since high school, Lillard grew up in the gritty streets of Oakland, California where all he knew/saw was violence, poverty, and drugs. He was massively under-recruited and committed to play ball at a small Christian school in Utah - Weber State. During his three years in Utah, Lillard dominated the competition and was drafted in the lottery to the Portland Trail Blazers. The reason I mention this is to epitomize how Damian Lillard has ALWAYS played with a distinctive chip on his shoulder, from Day 1 and it is obvious that he has never let that go. Even today he isn't glorified as much as other top NBA athletes such as Steph Curry, James Harden or for that matter even Russel Westbrook - whom Lillard dominated for 5 games straight. What Lillard does best is maintaining his focus both on and off the court so that when a situation like last nights arises he steps up simply because of his team first intentions and all the hard work he put in prior. Instead of ever feeling comfortable because of the space he has put himself into he maintains his dominance by working the same way he did in middle school, high school, and college - countless reps, high peaks, low valleys but always a level-head. What separates a guy like him is effort and attitude two things that pertain to any individual in their career no matter what field they are in, he has underwhelming physical characteristics (6'3 195 lbs) for an NBA player, he plays in a small market and was never given high expectations to produce at an ELITE level - he, like several of you LinkedIn readers looking at this right now created himself like your business and never let go of the throttle which is why last nights score versus the Oklahoma City Thunder was: Portland 118 - OKC 115.
Thanks for reading,
Benny 8/30