Damian Lillard Postgame Press Conference | 1.31.24

Damian Lillard Postgame Press Conference | 1.31.24

Damen how uh you just walk us through the inbound play that doc said obviously was to give you a look U which one uh the one that were in there passing off the oh yeah kind of double team yeah that you just kind of walked to that

Play when you saw it and how that um it was just uh you know obviously like he said we was trying to get give me an opportunity to get a shot up um I came back I got the ball came off the screen uh I was looking to get downhill first

Cuz I didn’t want to just settle and I was able to get some space um from Aiden and I kind of stepped back behind the three-point line but my man was still chasing you know and I knew he was going to try to get a rear view contest

And you know maybe have a chance to block it so I just welcomed it and um I threw it back and Brooke was making that shot all night you know and I think if you can get a quality shot from a a good shooter um you know you make that play

So I threw it back to him just because I I felt like at that time it was the right play um you know and he just missed it was his position just so where you felt like you couldn’t get that up no I thought I could have shot it like I mean

I I probably could have shot it and got it off but I just when I was stepping back I felt them both coming I I for sure could have got the shot off but if you know if his man is in front of me and my man is right there you know

Chasing me on the side I I just was aware that he had to be wide open you know so I threw the I just made the pass back to him um onall I mean it was it was a fun game you know I think these types of games

You know where it’s just it’s a lot of meaning you know it’s a lot of emotion to it it’s always a fun game it’s always competitive you know these games are never just a a boring game or a blowout it seems like it’s always just a little

Bit more juice in them and um that’s what tonight was you know it was a entertaining game uh it was excitement uh the fans were into the game you know for a lot of reasons and you know it’s that’s what the NBA is you know I

Thought to start the game it was a little bit back and forth you know you let any team in this league start to believe and see the ball go in especially on their home floor is going to be a back and forth game but overall it was just more than anything it was

Just kind of draining you know what I mean just everything around it and what it was is um I ain’t going to say I’m happy that it’s over but I’m just like you know just dealing with everything that came with it I’ve been asked a million times like what is like being

Back in Portland and how do you feel and all of this stuff but um I really enjoyed being back but just the whole spectacle of it is just you know just a little bit bit draining you know Anthony’s been a pupil of yours any sense of Pride when he hit that huge

Shot mixed in with maybe OD Dam uh no I mean I I think when you when you spend a lot of time around somebody you have like a different type of belief and confidence in them than everybody else you know it’s like my older brother has a

Different type of confidence in me than probably anybody else in the world cuz he’s been there with me you know he’s seen me go through a lot of stuff and he’s he’s just seen it up close so he’s a he’s more of a Believer than everybody

Else and I think with Anton I probably just expect things from him that people probably don’t expect yet you know um so I wasn’t I wasn’t price you know what I mean I think he’s he’s developing you know he’s not afraid and um you know he

Has the ability to to make those types of shots proud I wasn’t proud in that moment but I wasn’t proud at all cuz I mean we want to we want to win the game but um you know I respected it you know cuz I’ve I’ve seen what went into it and

Obviously you know because of the Friendship that’s there you got to you got to respect it and your emotions during the Ovation in the beginning what was sort of going through your mind your heart um you know I just felt appreciated you know um I think that’s

What it comes down to you just feel the appreciation and the love um you know and I just kind of stood in it it was like man this is uh this is a big deal you know um you know just to take that moment and to to have everybody in the

Building just show me that type of love it’s um acknowledgement of a lot of things you know during my time here so I appreciated it um and that was it during that first preview video you came back out onto the floor and you kind of wiped

Your face did you did you get emotional during that video watching it like the whole game I was trying not to like sometimes when I sweat like I get sweat in my eyes and stuff and I was trying not to like wipe my sweat cuz I

Ain want nobody to be like man I think he crying you know so I literally was trying not to like even do that but I mean it didn’t I just was wiping my sweat off did you get a chance to take the videos in it all I know you like you

Trying to play it did you expect the second one um I saw the first one when it came on and I kind of watched it during the timeout and then um the second one came on and everybody on the bench was like okay they got 10 videos for you it kind

Of was a joke on the bench they was like it’s going to be a video every time out but uh I I saw the first one and I caught some of the second one cuz you know they was they was talking talking about it uh it felt like even when you

Every time you caught the ball you scored and stuff you still were getting cheered too did you notice that did you feel that from the Crouch reaction to you I know there’s some moments of you know them cheering you know but uh every basket I kind of once I get into the

Game I can I can hear it but I wasn’t paying too close attention so um I could definitely hear it Jam um just what did you see here in the middle um just what you see the start of the fourth quarter I think it was six straight turnovers to open up the

Quarter uh I just think we had a couple bad possessions um I think I had I think I had two turnovers in one possession you know I threw a pass to Giannis the ball slipped out my hand I sprinted back stole the ball and I was getting it toward the

Baseline and I tried to throw it to him real quick going the other way and then somebody else was running into the play but um we had that we had a couple charges uh you know we we wanted to play in the paint you know we knew how much

Help was going to be there so we can get into the paint make passes out um you know but they’re they’re a scrappy team you know they chy has ear so they’re going to do exactly what he says and you know guys was getting in front taking

Charges you know they was flying around and um that led to some turnovers and sometimes that happens you know especially in these these types of back and forth games and energy is in the building a team is feeling good they making shots so um those types of plays

Just happen I think that’s the first time we’ve had that this season where is like charge charge turnover turnover and um those types of plays give give the opposing team life life you know and on the roads you can’t you can’t have a stretch like that and expect a win

Before the game Doc had mentioned the fact that he knew your emotions were going to be whatever they were but he also knew that for the your teammates it was going to be tough to you know do we try to take over for Dame do we try to

Feed Dame just how do you feel like kind of your teammates dealt with that throughout the night I thought it was fine um you know I think at this point they they know my personality you know and I didn’t come into the game like you know feed me the ball or nothing like

That um the best thing about it was that we just played normal you know so we can just try to win the game and not make it more about me than it needed to be you know I think the fans and the love and the respect and appreciation that was

Shown was enough you know but when it came to the game you know I felt like we kept it normal and um I thought everybody handled that part of it well um you know and that was it hey Dame at one point uh doc said to you guys in the

Huddle you guys are trying to win the game yourselves and that’s not going to work we have to win it together yeah what do the difference between the two look like to you and how do you strike that balance uh I think for us it was um that stretch where we just didn’t

Have as much movement you know I think when the ball moved we was most successful offensively but when he said that we were in the middle of a stretch where a team has so many guys with the ability to take over a game and um you

Don’t want to shy away so you end up you know maybe being a little bit more aggressive than you need to instead of making that that next play um so I don’t think nobody on the team was like ball hogging or nothing like that but it was

Just like when things aren’t going well you typically want to try to change it you know as a as a good player you want to try to do something because you’re capable of it but usually the the best thing to do is to make the ball move a

Little bit more you know and to trust a little bit more um because that’s going to be harder to guard and we got good enough players to make them pay you know by making that extra pass and we just kind of got away from that you know it was like one pass

Attack instead of moving them around that’s how they was able to get in position to take charges and get in passing lanes and stuff like that so I think that’s the point he was making you know we just got to we got to continue to trust and make those extra passes Mak

Make the extra uh play because it’s going to be going to another good player and it’s going to be a quality possession and um those are the the hardest possessions to guard when you want a good team

Damian Lillard spoke to the media after Wednesday’s game in Portland.

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