Thorpe: Damian Lillard Makes It Look Easy

As Lillard squared up at the top of the key against Carter, who was playing high school basketball when Lillard was still in diapers, it looked like Lillard was going to try to take the slower Carter to the rim. But instead Lillard recognized that the Batum-Collison matchup might be the better option. So he patiently allowed Batum to body up Collison. Then in an instant, Batum faked moving up the floor and went backdoor, where Lillard easily hit him in stride. The play resulted in a nice dunk by Batum. Great players make great plays seem routine, and that is what Lillard is doing in this league already.