Blazers’ star Damian Lillard elaborates on his statement about Stephen Curry as the GOAT shooter, adds a small asterisk to the same.
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The Portland Trailblazers completed a splendid 17-point comeback against the New Orleans Pelicans last night. Lillard led the effort with his spectacular 50 point showing.
It was yet another sighting of the famed ‘Dame Time’ as Lillard took over in the 4th quarter, and scored 20 points. After the game, Dame spoke with the TNT cast, and there during his interview, he called Stephen Curry the greatest shooter in the league.
However, as it turns out, Dame was not done with his entire statement just yet. In an interview with USA Today, Lillard completed his statement. He said:
“Steph’s the best shooter ever. But when it comes to shooting from deep range, I feel like I can do that as deep as anybody.”
Damian Lillard acknowledges Stephen Curry is the best shooter ever, but the Blazers star thinks he matches up when it comes to deep, deep balls.https://t.co/noKKYEhumg
— Blazers Nation (@BlazersNationCP) March 18, 2021
Also Read: LeBron James Becomes FSG Partner And Part Owner Of Liverpool After Fresh Injection Of Cash
Is Damian Lillard as effective as Stephen Curry from deep?
At a first glance, one may assume the statement to be true. However, when one deeps digger into the numbers, it is found that Curry has an edge over Lillard in the matter.
Dame ranks second this season in 3 pointers made with 166, sitting just behind Steph, who has 178. He leads the league in crunch-time 3-pointers made at 46. As for distance, Dame took most of his 3 pointers from 25-29 feet (298 attempts) and made 40.6% of them.
If we go deeper, Dame has hit 33.3% of his shots from 30-34 feet. It is an impressive number, but Curry nicks the advantage here. Curry has made 42.8% of his shots from 25-29 feet, and 40.5% of his shots from 30-34 feet.
However, when one looks at the league, Damian Lillard stands right alongside Stephen Curry when lethal shooters are thought of.
