Lillard scored 60 points today.
In this season of frequent records, it may not scare people, but I have to add:
It was the fourth 60-point game of his career.
— Harden scored 60 points in four games. Baylor scored 60 points in four games. Jordan scored 60 points in five games. Bryant scored 60 points in six games.
Further up is Chamberlain's 32 games with 60 points, not to mention this.
I often say that Lillard is like Arenas in this era - Arenas only had a 60-point game, the 2006 battle against Kobe.
Of course, everyone knows that Lillard is good at breaking points. The sixth most in history of 50+ games in a single game. Flipping through records such as 15 points in a single quarter, 18 points in a single quarter, and 20 points in a single quarter, the top three in the current roster are him, Curry and Harden in combination.
Everyone knows that Lillard is good at long-range three-pointers, and his hand is unstoppable: today is another 9 three-pointers - the number of 9 three-pointers in NBA history in a single game, he is second, Curry is first.
Speaking of Curry, we talked about it in the preseason, and after Lillard returned from injury, it is suspected that Curry is a little Curry. It shows more off the ball, faster shots and lower jumps.
Today is considered to be in a hurry to take over, not very obvious.
Lillard averaged a career-high 11 three-point attempts per game this season, with a 55 percent three-point assist rate, the highest since 2014.
As for the brevity of the shot, today there are also wonderful 360-degree turn three-pointers, quick grabs around cover catches, and so on.
But that's not the point: Lillard has always been good at shooting, and he just fine-tuned the basket after returning from injury.
Lillard shot 12 of 14 from two-point range today.
Before today's game, Lillard shot 56% from two-point range, a career-high; Averaged 8.4 free throws per game, a career-high.
To put it another way: Lillard is averaging more free throws per game this season than Morant, a breakthrough maniac.
Harden shot 43 percent from the free throw line this season and Lillard 43 percent.
Background:
Ten people have averaged 8 free throws per game this season, except for Lillard, the youngest is 28 years old - Lillard is 32 and a half years old.
As you get older, you come back from injury, but you are more able to break out and dare to break out?
Everyone knows that Lillard is an iron man. He played 82 games in the first three years of his career and missed 37 games in the first nine years of his career, but he had minor problems with his waist and legs since 2014 and decided to give himself a big break last season.
He was not idle.
He used to love melon seeds, sushi and fried catfish, drink some wine from time to time, and eat something good at the restaurant - digression, this place of Oregon, the city of Portland, in the words of the Chicago media at the time, how simple laborers, it is not easy to cultivate ambitious people - but that place eats well. As for the restaurant...
"The quality and quantity of Portland restaurants ... The quality of the ingredients is so high that restaurants in New York and Los Angeles can't follow suit... Most of them sign contracts with farms and pastures... The desperate seasoning method common in traditional American cuisine is basically invisible here. ”
- Haruki Murakami, "If there really is a time machine".
But during his recuperation last year, Lillard often skipped breakfast — drink smoothies and the like — and got up to do strength training, then run and speed to check the stability and balance of his core, and then shoot. Eat an oversized lunch meal, and eat nuts finely chopped throughout the day.
Then, trainer Sam Allen told him the best way to maintain his core – boxing. Confrontation, twisting, balancing, it's all in there.
Back to today's game.
Lillard shot 12 of 14 from two-pointers, including 9 of 10 from the basket. There was a rapid change of direction after the collision, and there was a forced layup against Makanen.
Confrontation and balance.
After the game, he said that he usually feels special when he scores 60 points, but this feeling is "very simple", he does not feel that he feels particularly good, it is not the so-called hot game.
That is, he made 29 shots and simply scored 60 points.
Perhaps this level of confrontation is too easy for him?
Or maybe it's because, after entering 2023, he averages 35 points per game and is used to it?
Last year's rest and hard practice, diet control, have results.
Although the Blazers' record so far in the 2022-23 season is not good, this season's Lillard has made a successful comeback - this "simple 60 points" is a testimony to his hard work.
Another angle.
Player A averaged 20 shots, 11 three-pointers and 8 free throws per game this season, shooting 56 percent from two-point range and 55 percent from three-pointers, averaging 30 points per game.
Player B averaged 20 shots, 12 three-pointers and 5 free throws per game this season, shooting 58 percent from two-point range and 55 percent from three-pointers, averaging 29 points per game.
A is Lillard and B is Curry.
In the 2019-20 season, Curry was injured and took a year off. On Power, Comeback, Scoring King, Finals MVP.
2021-22 season Lillard is injured and rests for a year. On the power, comeback. Averaged 30 points per game this season. 60 points in a single game today.
They all came back from injury, they all went to the strength fight and unremitting training, and they all played a new peak of their careers after their comeback.
Curry is the NBA's all-time three-point king. Lillard was on the verge of tying Carter's sixth all-time. Just mentioned: In NBA history of a single game of 9 three-pointers, Curry is the first, Lillard is second.
They even have one similarity ...
Over the past decade, Curry has hit the first three-point shot and Lillard third.
Of all incoming shooters, Curry averaged 26.7 feet from three-point range and Lillard at 26.6 feet — Harden made more three-pointers than Lillard, but he averaged 25.9 feet from three-point range.
The farthest shooter. The best playmaker defender long shooter. Heroes of their respective cities. A blaster who is the defender of the organization.
One career averaged 24.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, and one career averaged 24.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game.
In the mid-1990s, Portland media lamented that their city had an "85 percent, maybe 90 percent Jordan." It's similar in every way, but it's just a little bit worse. Without Jordan, he would be unique. We all know that means gliders.
At some point, the Blazers now also seem to have an "85%, maybe 90% Curry."
Curry and Lillard are like another version of Jordan vs Glider.
In a way, they are the reflection of fate.
Even...... Curry's 62 points were scored against the Blazers.
Lillard scored 61 points against the Warriors.