On December 15, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and in a game that has ended, the Blazers who played at home lost to the Suns 107-111. In this game, there are a large number of injured players in both lineups, the Suns have 5 players who cannot play, and the Blazers have 3 players forced to be absent, under such a premise, the audience naturally focuses on Paul and Lillard, in a sense, the performance of these two superstars will directly determine the final trend of the game.
Paul played 41 minutes, 10-of-19, with 24 points, eight rebounds and 14 assists; Lillard played 47 minutes and shot 11-of-31, including 5-of-16 from beyond the three-point line, with 31 points, two rebounds and 10 assists. It is worth mentioning that Paul's steady play on the offensive end today is in stark contrast to Lillard's cold feel, who only exchanged 31 points for 31 shots in the whole game, which is completely unlike the performance of an NBA supergiant.
But honestly, if you've been following the Trail Blazers lately, or if you're a die-hard Lillard fan, it's not hard to see that Lillard's form has been up and down since the beginning of the season, and the past 4 games have come to the lowest point, 5-of-17, 4-of-12, 3-of-15, 7-of-18, And Lillard's shooting percentage often hovers around 40%, which is not normal for an NBA-all-time shooter.
So the question is, what is the reason for Lillard's downturn? Overall, it is nothing more than three points, the first injury impact, according to NBA reporter Chris Haynes previously reported, Lillard was injured when he participated in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, and it is not difficult to see from the game of the US men's basketball team that under the influence of abdominal tendon injuries, Lillard's breakthrough has become no threat, and this situation has continued until now.
The second is the impact of the new NBA regulations, as the referee on duty encourages players to physically fight, Lillard's lack of height is infinitely magnified, in order to be able to complete the score, he now has to use a large number of long-range shots, which is also the root cause of his sharp decline in three-point shooting rate this season. The third is the mentality problem, after being eliminated by the Nuggets in the first round last season, Lillard was accompanied by a large number of trading rumors, although he himself has repeatedly stood up to debunk the rumors, but many teams, including the 76ers, agree that Lillard and the Blazers have exhausted their fate, and the two sides will break up peacefully in the short term.
Even if Lillard has a big heart, he can't stand playing in gossip, after losing to the Suns today, Lillard insisted on being tough in the interview, saying that he would not give in and would get through the difficulties with his teammates, but the Blazers did not seem to think so, and all indications showed that the Blazers could not hold back, and the pressure on the record forced them to make a choice as soon as possible on the issue of Lillard's stay. According to statistics, the Blazers have suffered six consecutive losses, and if the data is more detailed, they have only won 1 win and 9 losses in the past 10 games, and the only game won is against the Weak Pistons in the East.
In the previous period, although Lillard and CJ McCollum had both large and minor injuries, the Blazers had the idea of tearing down the rebuild. According to NBA reporter Kathy Hodal, the Blazers player supermarket is about to open for business, there is no non-sale in the strict sense of the word, Lillard is involved in the three-way deal discussion, the 76ers and the Nets have become the negotiating object of the Blazers, and now the news is that the 76ers want to exchange Simmons for Irving/Harden, but the Nets are not only not interested in players who do not have the ability to project, but they are only willing to provide Irving, so the Blazers are regarded as a third-party team to join the deal negotiations.
The end result of the three-way deal is likely to be Irving going to the 76ers, Lillard to the Nets and Simmons to the Trail Blazers. Finally, the 76ers and the Nets have wanted to solve their respective "problem stars" for some time, the reason why they have not started, in addition to the reason that the NBA free trade market has not yet opened, more importantly, the 76ers and the Nets are waiting for the right chips to appear, waiting for no waste, Lillard is their ideal candidate. Of course, considering that the NBA trading market is often unpredictable, it is not excluded that the three-party transaction will eventually evolve into a two-way transaction. Do you think the Trail Blazers should trade Lillard? Welcome to leave a comment in the comments section below to discuss, thank you for reading and following.