Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard runs off the court docket after warmups earlier than an NBA basketball sport towards the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)
PORTLAND, Oregon— Damian Lillard was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation by an appreciative Portland crowd when he was launched for Milwaukee’s sport towards the Trail Blazers within the NBA on Wednesday evening.
Lillard, who spent 11 seasons with the Blazers and nonetheless has a house in Portland, performed his first sport within the metropolis because the offseason commerce that despatched him to the Bucks.
The sellout crowd on the Moda Center feted Lillard with cheers. He responded with by applauding the followers and held up his arms in a coronary heart form earlier than his Bucks teammates danced round him.
But the celebration was muted on the finish of the evening by the Blazers’ 119-116 shock victory over the Bucks.
In a information convention earlier than the sport, Lillard mentioned his return was surreal.
Damian Lillard receives an ovation from Rip City in his return to Portland ❤️👏
Trail Blazers-Bucks | LIVE on ESPN pic.twitter.com/HFjFhcRcS9
— NBA (@NBA) February 1, 2024
“Even though I knew I was coming here as a visitor, once I got to my house and took my son to school this morning, it was almost like you forget that this is road game,” he mentioned to greater than three dozen reporters.
Lillard mentioned he spoke that morning to former teammate CJ McCollum, who performed 9 seasons with the Blazers earlier than he was traded to New Orleans in 2022.
“He called me and he was like, ‘Hey man, embrace it. It’s going to be emotional. We put our time in and we put our work in. We had moments and it was a lot of years of us giving everything we had, and we were appreciated.’ When he came back, he was like, ‘It was that moment, I felt the appreciation for everything that we put into it,’” Lillard mentioned.
An eight-time All-Star, Lillard averaged 32.2 factors with the Blazers final season. He turned simply the seventh participant in NBA historical past to attain greater than 70 factors in a sport — that quantity has since elevated to 9 — when he completed with 71 towards the Houston Rockets final February. He averaged 25.2 factors, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.7 assists throughout his time with the Blazers.
But Portland gained solely 4 playoff collection in Lillard’s tenure, attending to the Western Conference Finals simply as soon as. The crew went 33-49 final season, the second consecutive yr it completed effectively exterior the playoff image.
With Milwaukee, Lillard got here in averaging 25.1 factors and 6.8 assists. Last week, Milwaukee fired coach Adrian Griffin after solely 43 video games and employed veteran Doc Rivers to take over with the aim of one other NBA title in thoughts.
Lillard mentioned it has been nice being a part of a crew that has “tasted winning and wants to get back to that.”
“Playing with Giannis (Antetokounmpo) it’s been great. I think playing with another top 75 players, two-time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, championship Finals MVP, I’m just able to feel what a luxury it is to have a guy as dominant as he is on floor,” Lillard mentioned.
He wouldn’t rule out a doable return to the Blazers sometime.
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A child within the stands held an indication directed at Lillard that mentioned: “Go get your ring then come back home.”
“I think because of how I feel about Portland, how I feel about the organization here, my time that I spent here, in my mind I’ve always felt that’s how my career would end,” he mentioned. “Right now I’m just in the space of like, this is where I am now. I’m in Milwaukee. I want an opportunity to contend, and our team has an opportunity to contend this years and years to come.”