Damian Lillard Quiet in Team USA's Comeback Win Over Australia
Damian Lillard is no doubt thrilled at the prospect of winning an Olympic gold medal, especially after Team USA's disastrous early performance against Australia.
But as he sat back on the bench with the Americans salting away a comeback semifinal victory, warmups on since the beginning of the fourth quarter, Lillard surely wished he was playing a bigger role in his team's success, too.
Team USA beat Australia 97-78 on Thursday to advance to the Tokyo Olympics final, where the three-time defending gold medalists will meet Slovenia or France.
The Americans trailed 41-26 midway through the second quarter, frustrated by cold outside shooting tireless, disruptive help defense from the Boomers. They couldn't keep up on the other end, either, Australia's quick ball movement and hyper-activity running the defense ragged.
A noticeably angry Gregg Popovich called timeout. Team USA flattened the floor for Kevin Durant on the ensuing possession, its all-time leading scorer willing in an impossible floater over Matisse Thybulle—all the momentum the Americans needed.
Fueled by vintage two-way play from Durant, the offensive exploits of Devin Booker and a torrid team-wide defensive effort, the United States sprung a 26-4 run on Australia over the game's next eight-and-a-half minutes of game clock. By the time its utterly dominant third quarter was finished, Team USA suddenly led 74-55.
The final stanza, despite the United States' cringe-inducing start, would be a formality. Australian coach Brian Goorjian pulled Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and the Boomer regulars with his team down 88-68 with just under four minutes remaining.
Lillard had long been on the bench by then, his last action coming as an offensive sub for the final ten seconds of the third quarter. He ended up watching as Booker drilled another pull-up jumper, right before the buzzer.
The ultimately lopsided nature of Team USA's win gives Lillard's basic benching some cover. Biased Blazers fans could get away with insisting Popovich would have called Lillard's number if the Americans actually needed Dame Time. Lillard's +9 plus-minus will blunt the perception of his play, too.
But there's no longer any getting around what's become increasingly obvious during the United States' trudge to possible gold: Lillard hasn't just been inconsistent with Team USA, he's at times been an abject liability.
The crux of his labors, of course, come on defense, where Popovich's switching scheme makes Lillard an inevitable target. He's one of two players on the American roster standing below 6-foot-6, and the other is Jrue Holiday—Team USA's most indispensable player, it turns out, behind Durant. All the fight in the world won't help Lillard when he switches onto an opposing center intent on rolling hard to the rim.
Popovich could maybe live with the defensive ripples Lillard's size presents if Portland's superstar was otherwise airtight. That just hasn't been the case in Japan, though, Lillard occasionally a beat late making an extra rotation or getting confused on switches. He hasn't been immune from straight blow-bys in isolation or losing his man on a cut away from the ball, either. The triangle-and-two Popovich deployed on Mills and Ingles late in the second quarter wouldn't work as well with the smaller Lillard on the floor.
Lillard can and does suffer these same defensive pitfalls with the Blazers. The starkest illustration of why he can't get away with it at the Olympics?
Lillard put together what might have been the worst defensive half of his career in Game 5 of Portland's first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, but it was barely discussed in the slack-jawed awe of his truly epic 55-point performance—one that couldn't even lift the Blazers to victory.
Team USA, overflowing with offensive talent despite missing some signature domestic stars, will obviously never build an offense around Lillard like Portland does. When the Americans need a hero, Durant will always wear the cape first. Booker and Khris Middleton, with license from Popovich, have seized some big possessions for the United States with unblockable pull-ups and turnarounds, too.
Popovich briefly joined Durant and Lillard for a post-huddle discussion in the third quarter, moments after their failed switch left Australia's most dangerous shooter, Chris Goulding, wide open from three. Durant and Lillard continued talking on their way toward the opposite basket, evidently coming to an understanding on their defensive mishap.
The Americans' next possession? A rare perimeter iso for Lillard, ending with him clanking an open step-back three off the front iron.
It was Lillard's last shot of the game. He finished 2-of-4 from the field with five points, three rebounds, one assist and two fouls in 17 minutes. Lillard played 22 minutes, his previous Olympic low, against Spain in the quarterfinal, with Popovich more than once subbing him out for defense.
Lillard's Olympic story isn't over. Regardless of how he plays in the final, trust that he'll bask in the glory of gold should the Americans win it. He'll praise his teammates and downplay his struggles, putting the emphasis on the greater good's awesome achievement. Reports are that Lillard has never desired the ultimate team success more after spending time with Team USA, and he's nearly admitted as much.
But Lillard didn't make his international debut—even playing lead recruiter to a Games affected by the global pandemic—to be benched for Zach LaVine, the objectively superior defender in Tokyo. That gold will shine brighter to Lillard—and all of Rip City—if he rebounds in the final to make a tangible impact during the Americans' winning effort.
Despite his Olympic labors, even the likes of Popovich and Durant clearly believe Lillard has the capacity to do it.