The Boston Celtics have had a packed week of action, but it’s slowly coming to a close. They lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road on Sunday before heading home and picking up wins against the Miami Heat (Monday) and Detroit Pistons (Wednesday).
At the time of writing this, the Celtics are at halftime in their Friday-night contest against the Milwaukee Bucks, who have completely turned their season around after a rough start. That said, the Celtics are a different beast. The reigning champions were 2-0 against Milwaukee heading into Friday, as well as 18-4 on the season (second place in the East).
And it only took one half for them to completely expose Damian Lillard again,
Damian Lillard is barbeque chicken on defense
Boston’s offense moves as a pack. They love three-pointers and make it a point to almost always get up more than their opponents. But they do it with ball movement, player movement, and acting as a unit.
However, every once in a while, they slow it down. If the right target gets placed in front of them, they’ll direct their offense at that target and go at them relentlessly.
That is what Lillard is.
Now, Lillard had himself a pretty impressive first half. One look at the box score would have people believing he was the best player on the floor. His 20 points were the most by any player, but he was giving up a ton on the other end.
Lillard is a complete and utter defensive liability. One of the worst in the league. Every time the Celtics got the chance, they put Lillard in the action, and it was barbeque chicken.
He gets lost off the ball, bullied on the ball, and is a mess in transition. It’s one of the Bucks’ biggest weaknesses, and it’s not the first time the Celtics have taken advantage.
In Boston’s game in Milwaukee on November 10, they were in a tough spot at half-time, but in the third quarter, they attacked Lillard. They mounted a comeback and eventually earned a victory.
Lillard’s offensive game is impressive. There is no denying that. But anyone who actually watched the game would see how awful he is on defense.
The Celtics expose that as well as any team in the league, and despite being down four at half-time, they still did a great job of attacking Lillard. They got great looks, but most of them just didn’t fall. The game plan works, Boston just has to make the shots.
