Dame has flipped the switch
His recent play had us thinking where he'll end up on the all-time scoring list
The Blazers came back down to earth following two wins against Dallas with a loss on the road to Denver 122-113 on Tuesday night. While there were many questionable calls that went against Rip City, Dame Lillard didn’t get enough help from the supporting cast to pull out the victory.
Despite the loss, Dame had 44 points on 20 shots, eight assists, and one well-earned technical foul, which I wouldn’t have been mad had he received another for showing up the officials.
Dame has quietly taken his game to another level lately, single-handedly keeping his team in games and showing why he’s still one of the best players in the league. He’s also reduced his turnovers recently, which may be because of Chauncey’s recent change in running more pick & roll with Dame. There may be something to running our offense through our best player and letting him take over. Here are Dame’s numbers over the last six games:
According to OptaSTATS, Dame is only the second player in NBA history to score 35 points on at least 55% shooting in four straight games. Oscar Robertson in 1967 is the only other player to do it.
During this six game span, Dame jumped from 78th to 71st in the all-time scoring list, which begs the question, where will Dame finish his career in points all-time?
Over his last six full seasons, Dame has had anywhere between 1,879 and 2,067 total points scored. Let’s made a conservative, but educated guess and say Dame averages 1,700 points the rest of his career. Assuming Dame picks up his player option in 2026-27 worth $63 million (!!!) and finishes out his playing career at age 36, that would give him four and a half years remaining. That would put him around 26,000 total points, which would be good for 20th all-time, right between Kevin Garnett and Vince Carter.
You never know what will happen with injuries and a decline in play as Father Time calls, but even if he averaged 1,500 points/year (which he has always beat except last year when he only played 29 games) he would still finish with around 25,000 points, which would be good for 24th all-time. Anywhere in the top 50 all-time is certainly a sign of a historic career. Do you think Dame gets the respect he deserves? He addressed it on Draymond’s podcast at about the 28 minute mark this last year and I thought it made for an interesting conversation.
No matter where Dame ends up, he will be remembered as one of the best point guards of his generation who helped transform the game with the deep ball. It certainly has been fun witnessing his greatness over these last few games and it has reminded me of some of his most iconic moments. Below are some of my favorite (not counting the obvious two playoff series clinchers):
48 points vs Lakers: Honoring the Black Mamba
61 points vs Mavs in the bubble: “Put some respect on my name”
55 points vs Denver: “A spiritual experience”
AVERAGING!? 45 & 10
51 points vs Warriors: Game after the all-star snub
38 points: Dame’s duel with Kobe as a rookie