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NBA Damian Lillard Russell Westbrook (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

Backcourt matchup

The backcourt matchup between Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum against Jamal Murray and Garry Harris will be an exciting one. While we do expect the former to outperform the playoff rookies, they will give it their all this series.

Although Lillard is the only one who played in all four games, let’s take a look at how each performed during these matchups:

Lillard (4 games): 21.3 points, 7 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 37.1 FG%, 28.6 3P%, 95.8 FT%.
McCollum (3 games): 20 points, 3.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 45.3 FG%, 26.3% 3P%, 100 FT%, 33.3 min.
Murray (3 games): 19 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 39.1 FG%, 30.8 3P%, 89.5 FT%, 35 min.
Harris (3 games): 17 points, 1.3 assists, 2 rebounds, 42.9 FG%, 29.4 3P%, 76.9 FT%, 29.3 min.

While Gary Harris performed well above his scoring average, Lillard performed below his own. Another observation is that all four guards shot well below their season averages (whether FG% or 3P%) except McCollum.

Most of this series will come down to which duo will shoot a higher percentage from the field and make the smarter late-game decisions.