Damian Lillard, the former longtime Portland Trail Blazers All-NBA point guard now competing for his first Eastern Conference title with the Milwaukee Bucks, has been making the interview rounds during the league’s offseason lull.
During a recent appearance on former Atlanta Hawks All-Star point guard Jeff Teague’s “Club 520 Podcast,” the 6’1″ Oakland native called his Golden State Warriors’ home courts (Chase Center and Oracle Arena) the toughest postseason venue he’s ever played on.
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In his 13 career playoff games against the Warriors as a member of the Trail Blazers, the eight-time All-Star averaged 27.6 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds.
“We were up nine points and there were five minutes left in the third quarter, and we were going into the fourth quarter down eight points. It happens fast,” Lillard said.Thanks to Farbod Esnaashari of Sports Illustrated (for transcription). “They hit a three, you hear the crowd, you see everybody stand up.”
“You look around and you’re like, ‘Oh my, we feel like we’re down 20 points.’ They come back, hit another one… That’s the only crowd I’ve ever played against at Oracle where we could win and it felt like the game was slipping away from us. That’s how crazy it was in there.” Steph [Curry] hit a three, Klay [Thompson] “I scored three points and took a timeout. That return to the bench made me say: ‘Shit.’
“Golden State is a tough team to beat because they’re in the playoffs,” Lillard added. “We played them in my fourth year in the second round … we had double-digit leads every game. We lost 4-1, but we could have beaten them 4-1.”
The 34-year-old spent 11 seasons in Portland, never making it as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2019. Golden State swept his Blazers that season before being hampered by injuries in the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
Last year in Milwaukee, Lillard averaged 24.3 points on a .424/.354/.920 slash line, along with 7.0 rebounds, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 73 regular-season games. For his efforts, Lillard was named to his aforementioned eighth All-Star Game and finished 11th in Comeback Player of the Year voting. The Bucks finished 49-33 and clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference, though they were eliminated in the first round by the lower-seeded Pacers after Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo each missed multiple games with injuries.
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