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.