Damian Lillard said that this is his first trip back to Portland since leaving the Trail Blazers 11 years ago, and he has “a lot of love” for both the team and the city.
It will be the eight-time All-Star’s first game in Portland since the off-season move that sent him to the Milwaukee Bucks.
No one was mаd about the deal or his time in Portland. Lillard wаnted to go to a team that was in the running for the NBA title, while the Blazers were focused on growing young players.
“I really liked the group. Everybody I worked with every day was great. It was especially hard because the relationship wasn’t broken. “Being able to come back and be here is great for me,” Lillard said on Tuesday. “The whole thing started because there was a chance to win it all.” We could not both be there at the same time. I’m happy to be back at the Moda Center and bring love with me.
Last season, Lillard averaged 32.2 points per game for the Blazers. In the eight years before that, he scored at least 24 points per game. In February of last year, he scored 71 points against the Houston Rockets, making him only the seventh player in NBA history to do so.
But during Lillard’s time in Portland, they only won four playoff games and made it to the Western Conference Finals once. Last season, the team went 33–49, which was the second straight year it ended far outside of the playoff picture.
Since then, the Blazers have had a hard time getting used to not having their star point guard. The team has a 14-33 record and is second-to-last in the Western Conference.
Chauncey Billups, the Blazers’ coach, said it would be weird to see Lillard back in a different number. He’s happy for his friend, though, and fully understands why they chose to move on.
Billups said, “In the situation we’re in, you don’t want to see him in that kind of spot where we’re doing what we’re doing and he’s out there scratching and clawing and getting 30s and 40s and we can barely win those games.” What he was going through was just hard. He never said anything bad about it, though. He’s only a soldier. Every time he went to work, he did his best. “I like that about him.”
It’s hard to sаy how well Lillard’s new team is doing because he’s only played with a few games together. The Bucks hired Doc Rivers to replace Adrian Griffin, who was fired earlier this week after only 43 games. The news came out Friday night.
Griffin was fired even though the Bucks have one of the best teams in the league (32-15). But there were worries that the team’s defense ranking was going down.
The Bucks got to Portland on Monday night for Wednesday’s game, and on Tuesday, Lillard was recognized at Adidas’ HQ in North America. Lillard works with the company on a marketing deal and wears their shoes.
He said, “I’m happy to be back at Moda Center. I played so many games there that I can recognize fans’ faces from the court.” It makes me happy to see their smiles and be back in the building, back home. I’m going to play the game for free.