How Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews Have Become the Splash Bros. You Don't Know

The NBA better watch out for these two.

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Statistical Information provided by STATS LLC.

The 2014-15 NBA season has been the year of the Splash Bros. Golden State's Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, a pair of gifted sharp-shooters who have led the Warriors to the top of the West, have flourished this season, a development spurred by both their tireless work ethic and the guidance of new head coach Steve Kerr. Fairly, they're one of the NBA's top stories this season. Curry has made a definitive leap from star to superstar and was the NBA's leading vote-getter for this year's All-Star Game, while Thompson played himself into his first All-Star nod—an honor justified by his historic third quarter on January 23, when he dropped 37 points against the rudderless Kings.

Curry and Thompson are good—by now, you know it from Drake songs, exhaustive profiles about the two, their ever-expanding SportsCenter reel of game-winning shots, and the plays that you have to watch two, three, or four times just to understand how they were physically possible. The latter are less "plays" than they are minor Vine explosions. Twitter eats them up like a dragon devouring an entire bull. 

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But elsewhere in the Western Conference, traces of Curry and Thompson can be found in another backcourt lighting up the Association. No, not Rajon Rondo and Monta Ellis. No, not Chris Paul and J.J. Redick. No, not Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe. I'm talking about Portland's Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews, a dangerous pairing whose talents may not yet be equivalent to the Bay Area's golden boys, but are at least cut from the same cloth.

The biggest resemblance is in their three-point shooting. Curry and Thompson are two of the league's most deadly from downtown. Curry creates off-the-dribble, while Thompson thrives in catch-and-shoot situations. It's the prototypical relationship between a point guard and shooting guard, and the Splash Bros. nail it every game. According to STATS, Curry shot 175 off-the-dribble threes out of his 321 attempts, as of January 28. During that same span, Thompson took 205 catch-and-shoot threes of his 298 attempts. Curry shot 40 percent in these situations, Thompson 47 percent.



If Lillard can continue to grow into the weapon that Steph Curry is now...then the Warriors will be far from the only team making a splash this season, next year, and beyond. 


Lillard and Matthews have a nearly identical relationship. Like Curry and Thompson, Lillard and Matthews always have the green light from downtown. To date, the two have taken more three-pointers than either of the Splash Bros., both individually and combined. They aren't more effective—they've actually made less despite taking 73 more—but there are enough similarities between the two duos to make them a suitable comparison: everyone is better in transition, the majority of their shots are smart takes (shots with at least four feet between the shooter and the defender), and with the relative exception of Lillard, they can all shoot from the corners—though it's worth noting that the majority of their shots come from above-the-break.

Because of their shooting prowess, Portland and Golden State differentiate themselves from other competitive backcourts in the NBA. Point guards like Patrick Beverley and Chris Paul have taken about 100 less threes than either Curry or Lillard, not to mention Rajon Rondo, whose shooting troubles still occupy Doc Rivers' nightmares. At shooting guard, Courtney Lee is relatively invisible from behind the arc compared to Matthews and Thompson. These two duos are easily the West's most prolific pairings from long. 

Credit for Portland's recent offensive explosion should certainly go to Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, whose "flow" offense is predicated on creating space, ball movement, and launching from beyond the arc. Stotts is doing all the right things with a young backcourt like Portland's by letting Matthews and Lillard run and drive in the lane, thus creating more opportunities on the perimeter.

And, of course, it's hard to talk about Portland's success without mentioning LaMarcus Aldridge...but I'm going to do it anyway. You know that Aldridge is an All-Star. Instead of singing his praises, let's look at the rise of Matthews, a guard whose game has improved every single year since Lillard was drafted. Matthews benefits from Lillard's quick penetration and his ability to attack the rim, and Lillard's tenacity yields two-fold for the Blazers. The young floor general is both a capable scorer, as we can see from this acrobatic, game-tying lay-up against the San Antonio Spurs on December 19... 

...and a willing passer, able to drive into the lane in order to open up other opportunities for his teammates. Check out the trey Lillard sets up for Matthews here:

Matthews doesn't often act as the lead ball-handler, largely because Nicolas Batum is the team's secondary option to Lillard in Stotts' offense. However, Matthews' ability to dribble in the open court has improved throughout his career, from the beginning—when draft analysts criticized his handle as a "mixed bag"—to last season, when Matthews started working with Blazers assistant coach Nate Tibbetts to improve his control. If not entirely polished, Matthews is at least fearless with the ball and works hard to establish himself as a play-maker in Portland's offense, rather than simply a three-point specialist. Here, he shows his ability to go coast-to-coast and draw in the defense before kicking it out for Lillard: 

Does it remind you of anyone?

It's not outrageous to say that Matthews is the Klay Thompson to Damian Lillard's Steph Curry. This isn't a simple one-to-one comparison. Yes, when you look at the numbers, Matthews bears out a few ticks beneath Thompson in a few major categories: Thompson is shooting 44.8 percent from downtown, while Matthews checks-in at 40.2 percent; Matthews averages 2.3 APG to Thompson's 2.9; and, of course, Thompson is the better scorer, averaging 22.5 PPG; Matthews puts up just 16.5. There are reasons why Thompson is an All-Star while Matthews will only be making an appearance in the Three-Point Shootout. And, certainly, at 28-years-old, Matthews' ceiling is more defined than Thompson, who's just 24. But, at their heart, both players are dangerous from beyond the arc, and know how to make the extra pass. These skills play huge roles in making Portland and Golden State's respective offenses do what they do.

At point guard, Lillard isn't better than Curry, but makes a good case to be in a similar standing as him right now, i.e. on the All-Star roster. From last season until now, Lillard's development has been stunning, as the third-year pro has led every step of Portland's transformation into a Western Conference contender, along with Matthews and Aldridge. The West is a constantly shifting hierarchy, and the past decade's parity has made it more competitive than ever. We don't know exactly how the conference will shake out next year, or even this season. This is your weekly reminder that the Thunder have the reigning MVP and are in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

But charting the Golden State's come-up gives us a lens through which we can view Portland's current and future success. If Lillard can continue to grow into the weapon that Steph Curry is now, to a point where Portland's attack can rest more on him than it does on Aldridge, then the Warriors will be far from the only team making a splash this season, next year, and beyond. 

Gus Turner is an editor for Complex Sports. Talk to him on Twitter at @gusturner1


 

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