The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Houston Rockets 107-95 this weekend.
While the victory in itself was special, the other big thing that occurred in this one was Damian Lillard crossing the 18,000 point mark.
And in addition to that, Lillard also reached 8th place on the all-time regular season three-pointers made list.
Lillard touched on his abilities as a shooter after that Rockets game.
“I always see stuff on social media where they talk about the greatest shooters of all-time and they always act like it’s just crazy for people to mention me,” Lillard said, per NBA.com.
“I think for how many threes I’ve made, for how consistent I make them, the level of difficulty that I shoot threes with over years and years and years, I just think it’s kind of crazy people don’t mention me in those discussions.
“Obviously I think Steph is the greatest ever, but I think after him, I don’t see why I’m not clear-cut in that discussion, not just by makes, but how I shoot it, how I make tough ones all the time, how easy I shoot the ball.
“I’m looking forward to keep climbing that list so once I get up there in that top two, top three, I’m curious to see what people will say about me as a shooter at that point.”
Whether he is lusting over a female boxer, naming the four best players of all time or revealing the one condition under which he’d accept a trade – Lillard generally keeps it pretty real.
In that respect, him being so honest about the respect he feels he deserves as a shooter is unsurprising.
The GOAT knew exactly what he was doing with that hand placement. https://t.co/M7mgwtT9wy
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 19, 2022
And to Lillard’s credit, he really is a tremendous shooter.
Will he one day finally get as much credit as he believes is warranted for his skills?
Time will tell.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.