Damian Lillard, one of the NBA's hottest young stars, helped carry the Portland Trail Blazers to a 54-win season and a fifth seed in an extremely stacked and brutal Western Conference. Against the star studded Houston Rockets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, Lillard hit the series-clinching buzzer beater three point shot from way deep. Lillard joined Ralph Sampson, Michael Jordan, and John Stockton as the only players in NBA history to make a game-winning buzzer beater to clinch a playoff series according to NBA.com.
Then Lillard and the Blazers faced the mighty San Antonio Spurs in the second round and found themselves in a 4-1 beating. To make sense of what happened, Lillard reportedly watched the entire series twice over the summer per Oregon Live. Here is what the 24 year old point guard had to say at the Blazers media day on Monday:
The biggest thing I took from it was we ran out of gas, and we ran up against a better team, a team that ended up being the champions.
Lillard also pointed out that his legs lost the energy during the series against the Spurs after engaging in an all-out-war with the Rockets. After watching the entire second round series again, he saw how it affected his game.
After a dominant performance against the Rockets where he averaged 29.8 points per game, LaMarcus Aldridge was limited to 21.8 points against the Spurs. His offensive production clearly dropped big time and it has a lot to do with Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan taking turns in containing him. Fatigue might as well have been another important factor.
"I don't know maybe you can tell me," Aldridge said when asked about the Spurs' defense per ESPN. "I had the same looks. I actually got to the rim more in this series than in last series. I just missed easy shots. I have to be better for us to win. I definitely didn't play well in this series so it was tough for us to win games."
When you miss easy shots - those kinds of shots that you normally make - fatigue has got to be a big factor. Aldridge might have burnt out after a highly competitive series against the Rockets where he had to guard Dwight Howard on the defensive end and score as much as he can in the post in the offensive side to keep the Blazers in front.
Lillard has now worked out extensively in his lower body and made drastic changes in his own diet, such as cutting out fast food, sugar, and salty foods per Dime Magazine so he won't get burned out in the playoffs again. It might be wise for Aldridge and the rest of the Trail Blazers to follow Lillard's training regime before the season starts as the Western Conference remains as stacked and brutal as before.
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