Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard is one of the NBA’s best players in the playoffs, with numerous buzzer-beating goals to his credit. However, even he couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the Oracle Arena crowd at the height of the season. Golden State Warriors dynasty. Like other teams, no one wanted to face the Warriors in the playoffs from 2015 to 2019 because they seemed invincible. With the raucous crowd giving them energy, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson could pull the team out of any hole or bury their opponents in a deeper hole.
During his appearance on Jeff Teague’s Club 520 podcast, Lillard shared some ideas on his playoff battles with the top Warriors.
“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. They score a point and a three-pointer, you hear the crowd, you see everybody on their feet,” Lillard said.
Of the Oracle crowd, he added: “You look around and you’re like, ‘Holy crap, we feel like we’re down 20 points.’ They come back, score another one… That’s the only crowd I’ve ever played against at Oracle where we could have won and it felt like the game was getting away from us. It was that crazy out there. Steph hit a three-pointer, Klay hit a three-pointer, timeout. That walk back to the bench, it was like, ‘Holy crap.’”
Dame Time before the Bucks
While Lillard may have said all that, he was no slouch in the playoffs either. In 13 playoff games against the Splash Brothers, he averaged 27.6 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds. However, he had only won one game against them, a testament to the Warriors’ dominance in the mid-2010s.
“Golden State is a tough team to beat because they’re in the playoffs,” Dame continued. “We played them 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.”
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But after all these battles, time continues to march and Damian Lillard is now with the Bucksand the Warriors are without Klay Thompson. Call it a stroke of luck, but Lillard has the best chance of winning an NBA title of his entire career now that he has NBA champions Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton by his side, especially in a relatively weaker Eastern Conference.
On the other hand, the Dynasty of Warriors is probably over. They just lost the play-in to the Sacramento Kings, and then they split the Splash Brothers. Also, Steph Curry isn’t getting any younger. Plus, the team has failed to bring in Lauri Markkanen because they refused to part ways with role players like Brandin Podziemski, which is seen by most fans as bad management practice.
Sports dynasties don’t last forever and often end horribly, but it’s thanks to Damian Lillard’s luck that he’s been able to face the best Warriors in the playoffs year after year.
