One way to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers is to contain star guard Damian Lillard who has been having a great postseason so far. After their Game 4 victory, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were asked to share their thoughts on how to make it tough for Lillard to get his offensive game going.
While Murray voiced out all of his thoughts, Jokic uttered an amusing response.
Per Mike Richman of NBCS Northwest, Jokic hinted that while they limited Lillard to 40.9 percent shooting from the field and 28.6 from 3-point territory, the four-time All-Star still scored 30 points. To be exact, Lillard notched 28 markers.
A reporter asked Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic how the Nuggets have slowed down Damian Lillard.
After Murray gave a long answer about making it tough on Lillard, Jokic chimed in seemingly stunned at the line of questioning, "Brother, he scored 30 points."
— Mike Richman (@mikegrich) May 6, 2019
Jokic's answer is indicative that he's not satisfied with their defense on one of the league's best offensive gunners. In Game 2, they held Lillard to just 14 points on 29.4 percent shooting. But for the entire series, the 28-year-old is averaging 27.3 points per game on 42.3 percent shooting from the field and just 24.6 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Though it would be impossible to contain Lillard for the entire series, perhaps Jokic is just saying that if they were able to hold him to under 20 points in one game, then they can replicate that form of success again and again.
With the series tied two games apiece, the Nuggets will certainly look to hold Lillard to another mediocre scoring performance. Game 5 will be on Tuesday, May 7, at Pepsi Center in Denver.
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