Damian Lillard Takes Blame For Blazers' Struggles: 'I Just Gotta Be Better'
The Trail Blazers are as close to full health as they'll get this season. Neil Olshey's win-now trade for Norman Powell is paying obvious on-court dividends, and Jusuf Nurkic is rounding into the type of two-way form he hasn't consistently reached since 2019.
Portland's final push toward the playoffs, basically, is set up perfectly for Damian Lillard to make a definitive case as the league MVP. Instead, the losses are mounting and he's playing his worst basketball of the season – an ugly reality for which Lillard is taking personal responsibility.
"The only thing I can do is look in the mirror at myself, and evaluate myself. Just not playing well enough," he said after Sunday's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. "I don't think it's worthy of going into what goes into it or anything like that. I'm on the floor, and I'm just not playing well enough. If we're gonna be better, I know that our team success is parallel to me being better, and I just haven't played good enough."
Lillard scored 23 points on 8-of-27 shooting against the Grizzlies, going an ugly 4-of-17 on twos. While dogged individual defense from Dillon Brooks and Memphis' active, aggressive overall defensive identity have certainly played a factor in Lillard's play, his struggles predate the Blazers' crucial meetings with the Grizzlies.
Lillard is at just 22.1 points per game in April, shooting 37.1 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from beyond the arc – numbers well below his season-long averages. Just as telling of his lagging impact? Portland's below-average 112.8 offensive rating with Lillard on the floor this month barely dips when he's on the bench, per NBA.com/stats.
Injuries, obviously, are contributing to Lillard's labors. He recently sat out three straight games to manage those lingering maladies, time off that Lillard stressed made a major difference as he returned to the floor. He turned his left ankle in the first game against Memphis, though, and has generally lacked his normal level of burst and explosion dating back to late March.
Given the chance by The Athletic's Jason Quick to excuse his play by way of injury however, Lillard demurred.
"I'm on the floor. That's the best way for me to put it," he said. "I'm on the floor because that's what gives our team the best chance to win, and I'm doing all the things to allow myself to be on the floor. So I just gotta be better, man."
If only the breakneck pace of Portland's finishing schedule allowed Lillard time to heal. Instead, he'll have to keep fighting through pain, hoping something less than his best is good enough to lift the Blazers out of the play-in tournament.