Things have not gone very well for Chauncey Billups in his first NBA season as head coach with the Portland Trail Blazers. The team is currently 6-8 and things could get tougher depending on the status of star point guard, Damian Lillard.
Lillard is one of the players being impacted by the NBA’s rule changes the most. He is averaging only 3.4 free throws per game, which would be the lowest mark of his career. That is part of the reason his scoring average is down to 20 points per game, which would be the second-lowest mark of his career.
He is also just not shooting the ball well. He is currently putting up career-low numbers on shooting percentage and 3-point percentage. Lillard is making only 38 percent of his shots overall and 26.8 percent from the 3-point line.
Those numbers just won’t cut it, as the Trail Blazers are heavily reliant on his production. But, could the abdominal injury that he has been dealing with be playing a part?
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The injury that Lillard is battling is called abdominal tendinopathy and it is something that he has been dealing with for years. Could he be dealing with a worse version of it this season?
“Anytime it gets irritated it’s just a little irritation there, you know what I mean?” Lillard told the media earlier this month. “But I’ve played with it for a few years now so I’m kind of immune to playing with it. I’ve played well, I’ve done a lot of things with it being irritated, but it’s just (frustrating).”
Given that it is something he has dealt with previously, Lillard will usually play through the injury. But, in Portland’s most recent game against the Denver Nuggets, Billups had to convince his star point guard to sit this one out.
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Hopefully, some rest will help the injury improve and get Damian Lillard back to play at the level we are used to seeing him perform at. Without him playing at an All-NBA level, the Portland Trail Blazers are going to struggle to be competitive in the Western Conference throughout the season.
