So far during the 2018-19 playoffs, Damian Lillard has been darn near automatic when shooting from several feet behind the 3-point line. But, as our old friend Ben Golliver from the Washington Post writes, Lillard’s performance was the result of a year’s worth of hard work with player development trainer Phil Beckner and Blazers’ sports performance coach Ben Kenyon:
The three men decided at the beginning of last summer that extending Lillard’s range was their offseason priority. The goals were simple: to give Lillard a weapon that could stretch opposing defenses past the breaking point, and to prepare Lillard’s mind, body and shooting stroke for a moment just like the closing seconds of Game 5.
“Those situations are handled way before the time comes,” Lillard said. “In the summer, when you truly prepare yourself with training and conditioning. When you cheat yourself, you fail in those moments and crash. When you really put the time in, it always comes to light.”
Golliver also broke down one of the Beckner’s drills that Lillard focused on:
In a new drill called “NBA 100” that Beckner designed to test shot-making and endurance, Lillard starts by hitting as many consecutive shots as he can from the right corner, earning one point for each make. When he misses, he steps forward into the midrange and hits as many shots as he can until he misses. Then he takes a layup before repeating the process at the right wing, the top of the arc, the left wing and the left corner.
A winning score is 100 points. The record, set by one of Beckner’s other NBA clients, was 207.
“On his first try, he got over 100 but didn’t break the record,” recalled Beckner, 36. “He wouldn’t even look at me or say a word. He walked to the far baseline and put his hands over his head like he had just lost an NBA game. Then he walked back to the corner and said, ‘Again.’ He was so pissed. He didn’t just want to win; he wanted the record. That’s Kobe Bryant status.”
On his second attempt, Lillard scored 311 points, meaning he made 311 of 321 shots. Subtract the five layups, and that equates to a preposterous 96.8 percent on three-pointers and midrange jumpers.
Golliver also gives us a look into Beckner’s reaction when Lillard hit his series-clinching 37 footer in Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder last week:
Beckner watched Game 5 nervously from his Arizona home, while Kenyon took in the action from his seat on the team’s bench. Both coaches knew what was coming. Despite the high stakes and George’s defense, Lillard tap-danced toward a spot he targeted, uncorked a smooth shot and barely reacted as time expired. Beckner screamed so loudly that he went hoarse. Kenyon’s mind flashed back to the trash talk Lillard and the Blazers faced earlier in the chippy series.
“He didn’t take the bait,” Kenyon said. “We could have derailed mentally, but he didn’t allow it. I knew he was going to pull up because he had done it all summer. When he hit the shot, everything we worked on came together.”
Just as Lillard said when discussing “the shot”, that moment was clearly the result of hours of hard work. Make sure to read Golliver’s entire piece for WaPo here.