Steve Dipaola / Associated Press
For once, the Dame Time clock did not strike.
In a game of Saturday afternoon, the Portland Trail Blazers could not afford to lose because they were fighting for a Western Conference playoff seed, Damian Lillard came up short. With the Blazers one point ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers, with 18.6 seconds left in the game, Lillard went to the free throw line with a chance to ban or take the lead – and missed both shots. LA ended with 122-117.
Two Clippers players who are at the receiving end of Lillard’s two biggest triumphs missed no chance to celebrate. That led to the kind of back and forth that the NBA bubble has been missing in Orlando, Florida, so far – the kind that drives the league’s best rivalry.
Clippers defender Patrick Beverley, who did not play on Saturday, was heard shouting “DOLLA Time” after Lillard’s free-go misses, a reference to Lillard’s rap name, Dame DOLLA of last year’s first round walk-off three that hit Lillard in George’s face when George was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“PG? Let me just say this,” Lillard said after the game. “I know what happened. I expected to make that free throw, and I did not do it when my team needed it. That was a failure for me that I can accept. But ask me about Patrick Beverley. ..I sent him home before the end of a game.Paul George was just sent home by me in the playoffs last year.That they know.
“The reason they react like that is because it’s what they expect of me, what’s a sign of respect. And it just shows what I’ve done multiple times on a high cliff. That does not offend me. If there was something wrong with it, you just had to see how much it hurt her to go through what I put her in those situations before. “
Shortly after Lillard’s media availability, George left a comment about a Bleacher Report Instagram Post. George also posted a Instagram story apparently blaming his shoulder injury for Lillard’s game-winner in last year’s playoffs. Lillard responded by pointing to the number of times George has changed teams, calls the Clippers “chumps” and accuse PG-13 of “running out of grinding.”
It was all just a reminder of how in the era of increased game movement the most intense rivalry is between players, not teams.
Beverley was a member of the Houston Rockets in 2014, when Lillard hit a hit buzzer-striking three-pointer in Game 6 of the first round to give Portland its first playoff series win in 14 years and send Houston home sooner than expected. Beverley, along with Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and others, was traded to the Clippers in June 2017 in a blockbuster deal for Chris Paul.
Two years later, the Rockets traded CP3 to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook, just days after the Thunder sent George to the Clippers following Kawhi Leonard’s commitment to LA in free agency.
Thunder general Sam Presti’s decision to drop his roster and trade two superstars came with the realization that OKC’s run had reached the end of his shelf life – a realization caused in part by the disappointing playoffs. of the Thunder sealed by the Lillard three that George infamously called a “bad shot.”
Now the tables are turned. George’s and Beverley’s Clippers are an undisputed title game, while Lillard’s Blazers barely hang on to a shot at the playoffs.
Kim Klement / Associated Press
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for this drama to continue in the playoffs. Even if the Blazers outscored the other playoff teams and made the eighth seed, they would have to field the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round and beat which of the Houston-Utah-Oklahoma City group emerges as their opponent from ‘ the second round. None other than Lillard and Charles Barkley thinks that is a serious possibility.
That this late-regular-season trash talk will have to do. Points were made on all sides. George seems to have been seriously reduced in that first round due to shoulder injuries (he had surgery on both shoulders in the offseasons) Lillard seems to have gotten better from both George and Beverley when they got into the playoffs meet.
He also likes that George portrays the ethos of team-building that he does not have much respect for. What’s George’s first remark that the Blazers’ run in the bubble will end early? Well, yeah, that’s probably how it’s going to go.
And getting to the playoffs got smarter with Saturday’s loss, which put Portland a game-and-a-half behind the Memphis Grizzlies for eighth seed and just a half-game up to 10th-place San Antonio Spurs. The hardest part of their schedule is over: They will face the Ben Simmons-less Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, the wrestling Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday and the Brooklyn Nets skeleton team on Thursday.
They can not give defeat in any of those games. They also should not have lost to the Clippers, in a game in which they lead most of the way against a team without Leonard, Beverley and Harrell.
Lillard had a chance to sail the game and did not. He knows this can not happen again.
“I had some moments in my career where I was expected to do one thing at the end of the game and I did not,” Lillard said. “I’m in a lot of situations at the end of the game, and I’ve had a lot of success in those situations. That’s just the way it is.
“Sometimes you have to fall short, and you have to miss those moments. I know that’s a possibility, because I’m in that situation all the time. So if it happens, it will not discourage me or make me less confident. “If there’s something wrong, I’ll look into it, and I’m pretty sure next time it’s going the other way.”
Sean Highkin occupies the NBA for Bleacher Report and co-hosts the Bulls vs. Blazers podcast. He is currently based in Portland. His work is honored by the Pro Basketball Writers’ Association. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and in the B / R app.
.
