Two Blazers Are Paving A Trail For Success In Portland

By: Sal Pellone
     It was April 29th when the Blazers had just been eliminated from playoff contention for the second straight year. The Northwest Division champs were taken care of easily by the Memphis Grizzlies, falling four games to one. That was the last game Portland had its core squad together. The run seemed to be over. They lost five-time all-star and face of the franchise LaMarcus Aldridge, center Robin Lopez, and sharp-shooters Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews. Four of the five starters from last year's team all gone in the offseason to other teams. Coming into this season, many people thought this was a rebuilding year for the Blazers (including myself), especially in the wild wild Western Conference.
     Whoops, we were wrong. The Blazers have won eight of their last nine, riding a 3-game win streak. They are sitting in seventh place in the West at 27-27 right now and if the playoffs started today, they would play Aldridge's Spurs.
     What's led to the Blazers' success without their core from last season? Of course, Damian Lillard is still living in Portland, Oregon. The two-time all-star is having another impressive season. He has taken over as the alpha dog for the Blazers team, improving in almost every statistical category. He is sixth overall in points per game and assists in the NBA, averaging 24.2 PPG with 7.3 APG. Lillard is among the best in the league at not only his position, but overall.
     Dame can't be carrying this whole team though, right? No, a guy named Cj McCollum has burst onto the scene out of nowhere. The former Lehigh star that drained 30 points to upset Duke has finally gotten his chance. "To everyone else, the way he's performing each night is a shock, but for those that were around him at Lehigh, we knew it was just a matter of time" says former Lehigh teammate Conroy Baltimore. The last two seasons McCollum was an average off-the-bench player racking up a minimal five to six points a game. With all the roster moves in the offseason, McCollum was promoted to starting shooting guard, to tag along with Damian Lillard. McCollum hasn't looked back since. "For him, transitioning to a starting role was not that much pressure because he knew that he would be prepared for the role mentally and physically" says Baltimore. He is now averaging 20.8 PPG, a rapid increase from the last two seasons.
     Lillard and McCollum are the third best tandem points scorers in the league, averaging a total 45 PPG for the Blazers, right behind Steph Curry/Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook.  Lillard and McCollum aren't like any other. Lillard is great at splitting defenders from the point and attacking the hoop with speed. McCollum supplements that with great perimeter shooting, tremendous patience, and changing his body movements and dribble to adjust to the defender.

     What makes these two so effective is their ability to spread defenses out, opening wide open threes in the corner and dump offs to big men down low. Similar to those Golden State Warriors. They draw so much attention when they attack the hoop, which opens up the flood gates for guys like Allen Crabbe, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Gerald Henderson in the corner, all of whom have career three-point percentage numbers this season.
     It's time to spread awareness and realize Lillard and McCollum are the real deal. They are accountable for the majority of Portland's .500 record. Losing four out of your five starters and right back in the playoff hunt, Lillard and McCollum have molded themselves into a top guard combo in the NBA for sure.