Damian Lillard, Tom Hanks, and slumps

What to do when you miss 50 of your first 65 3-pointers

BY HENRY ABBOTT

Facing measurably tough defense, Damian Lillard started the season in a shooting slump. In a rarity for a professional athlete, he opened up about it while it’s still happening. HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES

On Monday, the Smartless podcast posted an interview with Tom Hanks. Hanks had a story about his earliest days in Shakespearean theater, when a rehearsal was ruined by hungover actors, and in a weird way it made Hanks’ career. Hanks says the director started yelling:

He yelled at everybody. He said, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, we've got three weeks to get the show up on its feet. And you, people are not even trying for crying out loud. I can't do my job if you guys don't do your jobs. You guys have got to show up on time. You’ve got to know your lines and you've got to have an idea. I can't provide everything here. So let's take a break, mainline some coffee, chew it if you have to, right out of the jar, but come back here with some frigging energy. … I was 20 years old then. A…