Damian Lillard On His Game Winner | Postgame Press Conference | 1.14.24

Damian Lillard On His Game Winner | Postgame Press Conference | 1.14.24

Everybody ready in in the press conference room Griffin said the idea on that play was obviously there’ be a little bit more time on the clock uh but also Giannis back to you and then a pck and right um just can you speak to Brooke being able to read it on the Fly

And you do the same yeah I mean they um I just kind of let the ball bounce a little bit to you know let everybody get to their spots and I looked up and two guys ran to Giannis and when they ran to Yiannis Brooke was

Already like soon as I looked up he was already running towards me and I knew that that was what the play was going to get to eventually anyway so um I Advanced it to him and just took off running and um you know Fox was kind of

Trailing the play and he kind of got back in front of me cuz I slowed down I knew I was I wasn’t going inside the three-point line so he kind of got back in front of me and I just changed Direction and went into space you know

And that’s all I was looking for is just get into space where I can get a a good look at the rim and I did and um you know was a pretty comfortable shot when it’s not what you’re expecting initially and you just get the ball 94

Ft away with 5 seconds left kind of what’s the thought process as you’re surveying the floor uh like I just said I’m just looking for space you know I think um in my experience every time I’m in that type of situation I just uh try to avoid

Being in a crowd you know where it can be deflections or um you know two Defenders can put me in a position where I can’t get a shot off at all so once I came up the slot and you know Brooke was kind of right there I went in front of

Brook but I went that way just to go into space to where even if uh I think it was a bonus even if he tried to come towards me I still would have been able to use the rest of that other three quarters of the Court um but I you know

I’m just looking for some space and I found that space uh do your eyes go to the clock at all do do you take a peek or is it you know it’s five and I know I I think I looked I looked up at one

Point and it was 4 seconds so I knew I had time to get it over half and like you know make my move to get to that space and get a clean shot up without having to rush it um but as soon as I threw it

In I took a peek you know I looked at the clock and I was like I knew I had time uh how much do a win like this Manan how much what how much do a win like this mean to you guys going forward

Oh it means a lot because you know we on the second night of a back to back uh we had our opportunities to extend the lead but they’re a really good team you know they can fill it up they play Fast um they give themselves a chance in every game

Um so these are these are the kind of games where um you don’t want to let them slip you know it’s a home game uh a quality win against a good team second night of a back to back and we you know was pretty much in the driver seat the

Whole game so um these these the ones you got to have you know you get to March and uh in April and you look back and these are the games you like man we let that one slip we let this one slip so this was a great one to have how much

Does your confidence shooting from Deep uh help you in these situations uh I was say a lot just because it’s um I’m never looking for a specific range to get into to feel good about the shot that I take you know it’s like as soon as I get to

Space usually I’m like I can make it so um I think my belief in that it helps me a lot in those situations is a lot of times you’re not going to get to toe the line or you know get to a spot where you

Know you can get a clean look up close like that how did it feel to see your teammates doing your celebration at the end but not only that just knowing how much Faith they have in you uh I mean anytime your your group feels good about

What you do at the end of a game it feels great um but they’ve been telling me I’ve had a few moments not any gamewinners but I’ve had some big shots you know at the end of some games and they like man you didn’t even tap your

Wrist and I kept telling them like man it’s if you look over the course of my career I done just every game just tapping my wrist I was like it’s I do it when it’s necessary and tonight it was necessary did Jana say anything to you

Um you like bear hug he just yeah he um I when I saw the clip of it he was tapping his he started tapping his wrist when he was running towards me and then he almost choked me out but uh you know after the game he was just like you know

That was a I never seen a tough shot like that you know running for Speed then you kind of side step fading from Deep you know like that and I was just like it for me I I train and I work on these types of things you know so when I

Do it it doesn’t feel as difficult as it looks and then when I see it I’m like that it does look really difficult but I mean I I’ve got a lot of reps at uh shots like that so when it it looks a certain way to the person that’s

Watching it doesn’t feel that way for me that’s why cuz Eric asked you about the sequence but like when did you actually have a chance to look at The Rim look like like you almost let the shot go without even looking at the basket cuz you were looking at the CT and Defenders

And the time and the screen and no my eyes went up first you know any whenever um when I’m training my trainer um Phil Beckner is always telling me get your eyes up you know so it’s a habit for me off the dribble I always my eyes are up

Almost before I’m even Gathering the ball so um I got that space and I just my eyes was on the rim uh you guys go down six to to start overtime um just kind of what give you guys the faith to to come through cuz as you said it’s a

Back toback You’ be like all right whatever let’s wrap it up I mean it’s it happened it was quick you know they jumped out uh to that League quick so it was I think what we had on our side was time you know I think it was like 2:45

Or something at that point it was close to 3 minutes left so it wasn’t like we had to come down and rush and I think because of you know us having an understanding of that we just we were patient I think uh when we were down six

Um Griff caught a time out and we just executed I remember we ran a play I handed it off they went to sleep for a second and I kind of just quickly looped over the top of two screens and they went to sleep I had faith and I got a

Clean look and I made that three and you know once you cut it to one possession game you definitely get out of that all right you know that almost panic mode so cut it to three and I think we just settled in right there and um you know

We just kind of walked it down slowly literally to the buzzer Brooke also had a big shot in overtime what’s you like to see a seven-footer like him running down the court and then banking that corner three I mean every when he shoot I always feel like it’s going in you

Know that’s one thing I say about Brooke um you know I’ve seen him make some awkward ones some where it’s like he fading backwards off one leg or hesitate and then he shoot it or from Deep or you know extremely contested uh but I I think that was

Really the biggest shot of the night you know cuz without that one uh it was a four-point game at that point without that when he cut it to one and he put them in position where they had to make free throws and it opened up the

Opportunity for me so um it’s all that’s like kind of like the I don’t know the hockey assist or like or whatever is that type of type of situation you know what I mean he without that I don’t have an opportunity to make my shot so I

Think that was really you know obviously my shot was the game winner bless you Jun that shot gave you 2500 career three-pointers any any significance to that milestone for you uh I I you know I’m trying to keep climbing the chart man so I I got to keep keep firing were

You going to head out the door to be with your family and not tell us this well I I was going I I was going to uh get my kids out of here but uh it’s all good but they was like man we got to get

You to come back and I was like all right it’s all good thank you

Damian Lillard speaks with media after hitting a game winning shot on Sunday.

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