Damian Lillard Reveals Why His Shot Is So Incredibly Deadly
In the Portland Trail Blazers’ incredible comeback win last night, Damian Lillard once again had an all-time performance.
Lillard not only finished with 50 points and 10 assists, he also was super effective, hitting 13-of-20 shots, six 3-pointers and 18-of-18 free throws.
The Blazers were down 17 points with about six minutes left and then went on a 25-7 run to win the game, as Lillard scored 18 in the fourth quarter alone, and put himself in the MVP debate.
After the game while Lillard was interviewed by the NBA on TNT panel, Shaquille O’Neal wanted to know how he got his jump shot to be this deadly. Dame went on to give a detailed in depth explanation.
“I think it’s just putting a lot of time into it. We got some great shooters in our league. Obviously we think of Steph Curry first when we think of shooters – the greatest shooter to ever play in our league. But he’ll tell you the same thing, that it’s a lot of reps. Whether people are watching, or whether you get credit for it or not, you put the time in, and you do it at a game pace. You do it with focus. You do it while you’re holding yourself to a certain standard.. make 10 in a row at each spot at the end of your workout, when you’re tired and you probably don’t want to do it. Just like that, over and over and over and over.
Over the years, you get better from the reps, but I think more so than just physically, you get better mentally, and more confident in it because you’ve done it so often, and you’ve done it when you were tired, you’ve done it when you didn’t want to. And then, in the moments, end of the game, whether it’s first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, a tough shot, an easy shot… you got the ultimate confidence that it’s going to go in…”