As the NBA All-Star voting heats up, debates and discussions have once again started to determine the best point guards in the league. Damian Lillard‘s name is being inevitably floated around in almost every discussion on guards. Meanwhile, a recently resurfaced stat has reminded fans of Lillard’s elite scoring capabilities, especially in high-pressure situations. However, another former Portland Trail Blazers guard, Evan Turner, has forced himself into the discussion after making a bizarre comment about Dame Dolla’s numbers.
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A recent X(Twitter) post from Ballislife highlighted how Damian Lillard kickstarted an incredible 6-game scoring stretch four years ago by dropping a 61-point triple-double against the Golden State Warriors at home. The then Blazers guard followed his stellar performance with similar outputs in the next five games, scoring 47, 50, 36, 48, and 51 points respectively. In all of these games, Dame tallied almost double digits in assists and rebounds. He averaged a staggering 49 points per game in this 6-game span, which is quite easily one of the greatest scoring stretches in NBA history.
However, Evan Turner surprised a lot of fans after sharing Ballislife’s post with the caption, “This how I was supposed to hoop.” Now Turner was Lillard’s teammate in Portland from 2016 to 2019. On June 24, 2019, he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, where he would end his NBA career a year later. It’s uncertain what Turner meant by his remark. Whether he implied that he would have been in the court with Lillard during the scoring stretch had he not been traded, is not clear.
This how I was supposed to hoop https://t.co/2MhnbRAlqJ
— Evan Turner (@thekidet) January 20, 2024
However, fans have called out Turner in the comment section of his post for thinking he could ever match Lillard’s scoring prowess. The most points Turner has ever scored in a single game is 34, which came against the New York Knicks in 2014. Therefore, the 35-year-old’s career-high was two points short of the lowest scoring game Lillard had in that stretch. Additionally, Turner has scored 30 or more points in only three games in his career, which is pretty underwhelming compared to his former Portland teammate, who has had two seasons where he has averaged 30 or more points.
Lillard is currently averaging 25.5 points on a team where he isn’t even the first option. However, that number still blows out Turner’s best season’s average by a country mile.
Evan Turner and Damian Lillard are friends in real life
During an appearance on Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner’s Point Forward podcast last year, Damian Lillard recounted how he and Turner became friends from teammates. Lillard confessed that he initially thought ET was a bit weird.
However, he soon realized that Portland could use the guard’s playmaking skills. Therefore, he called Turner and facilitated a deal that the latter couldn’t refuse. After working a while as teammates, Lillard admitted that ET’s authenticity and ‘realness’ helped him develop a strong friendship with him.
That being said Turner’s post about playing like Lillard is certainly confusing. Fans hope that ET just means that he was supposed to play the game like Lillard does albeit not at the same level.
