Lillard is one of the worst defenders in the NBA, he is worse than Harden, worse than, Derrick Rose or Bargiani. Lillard is horrible, luckily for him, he is a point guard and not an interior player, so it isn't as important. Having said that, Lillard is a bum slayer. An overall Damon Stoudamire type player, borderline all star. I have never seen a point guard abused like Lillard has this series by Parker. It is to the point that Parker literally come down the court and choose where he wanted an open jumper. In another system, Parker could have dropped 60.
I don't disagree with you that Liliard sucks defensively (worse than Harden is a stretch). But you are aware Liliard hasn't guarded Parker much since the 3rd quarter of game 1 right? It's mostly Matthews and Batum.
no, no he isn't. he's just itching to jump on the bandwagon of hate on a 2nd year player playing against the best TEAM in the league. defense isn't innate for all stars, it requires intelligence so it develops. lillard has the tools, i will give him 3 more years.
Meh, He is good. When PG ain't making him play defense. Now put CP3, Westbrook or a Tony Parker on it. Let's see if he shows up.
Lillard was guarding Parker in the first half of game 3 a number of times and it was an absolute disaster. Yes, Lillard is a worse defender than Harden.... although that is like asking if you would rather be hit in the head by an axe or a hammer.
I don't think anyone has been worse than Harden, esp. this playoffs. If the opposing coach runs plays for a 3rd/4th option to purposely attack you (like Matthews v. Harden), you know Harden sucks defensively. And Parker has tore up Matthews or Batum. So saying Liliard can't guard Parker doesn't mean anything. Nobody can guard Parker on the Blazers. And Liliard v. Harden on who's worse on defense is like arguing about 2 homeless dudes on the street who's dirtier. Both suck defensively.
Lillard is guarding Parker right now, but guarding might be the wrong word, somewhere in his vicinity and closer than other Portland players?
Stotts was targeting Harden's effort, if there wasn't any, he'd keep going to it until something changed, if there was, he'd go away from it immediately. That's why Matthews was doing significantly less than the regular season, he had less things run for him, not more, it's just that when they did, it was in giant bursts, followed by nothing for 6 quarters. Parker on the other hand is going way above his regular season, he's just playing the same way, but when he gets to the point of deciding whether he wants to shoot or pass, there's no defender anywhere near him so he just shoots. The thing that makes the Spurs so good is they don't go into any of this "attacking nonsense" and break their offense doing it, the movement in their normal offense finds the holes naturally.
God I can't believe how good we made that mediocre team look. Portland is exactly who we thought they were. I can't even see Portland's logo without getting mad at McHale and Harden.
