The Memphis Grizzlies shut down Damian Lillard in two straight games

Going into the Memphis Grizzlies‘ series against the Portland Trail Blazers, it was hard to tell how things would turn out. A few close games were inevitable, which is a scary sight when you have Damian Lillard on the opposing team.

In fact, when you combine the Grizzlies’ inability to close out games and the opposing team having one of the most clutch players in the league, the outcome usually isn’t positive.

But after two games, it has been extremely positive for Ja Morant and company. In fact, the Grizzlies have won both games, playing in relatively dominant fashion in both against a team that’s a spot ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.

The Memphis Grizzlies have completely shut down Damian Lillard thus far

How have the Grizzlies managed to win both of these games, you ask? Great question.

Whatever Taylor Jenkins has game-planned to stop Damian Lillard has worked brilliantly. As one of the best players in the league, some teams look at Lillard as a guy who is just going to score at will and there’s nothing that can be done to stop him.

Not the Grizz.

Lillard has had one of the worst two-game stretches of his career against Memphis. Here’s what his numbers look like thus far in two games.

• 50 points
• 16-49 FG
• 5-22 3PT FG
• 6 turnovers
• -10 (+/-)

As you can see, these numbers are… well, terrible. For one reason or another, Lillard has played far below his potential in this two-game series. One theory as to why Lillard has been playing so poorly is due to strong defense by Dillon Brooks.

He hasn’t just played good defense either — it seems like he has gotten into multiple Blazers’ heads. He has had an altercation with Carmelo Anthony which resulted in a double-technical and exchanged words with Damian Lillard in the first game. This conversation can be seen below via Bleacher Report on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/bleacherreport/status/1385792583515795461?s=21

Whether or not you believe Brooks is a good defender, you have to respect his ability to trash talk on the basketball court.

Beyond talking trash, Brooks is an interesting player. He’s not generally thought of as one of the top players on the Grizzlies team, but he has the ability to guard the best players on opposing teams and score at will when he wants to. Key phrasing there is “when he wants to.”

Brooks will struggle to guard an average player on an opposing team and then lock up an NBA All-Star in the next game. It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen at the NBA level. But that’s exactly what has been happening here.

After he had an awful defensive performance against a decimated Clippers team, Brooks has played some of the best defense of his career against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

It has paid off for the Memphis Grizzlies. They’ll hope to see another strong defensive performance in game three on Wednesday.