Damian Lillard has not been past the first round of the playoffs since the 2018-19 season. But when he made the run to the Eastern Conference Finals with the Portland Trail Blazers, he was one of the most explosive performers at the highest level.
He had one of the most memorable shots in recent memory when he sent the Oklahoma City Thunder home with a walk-off game-winner over Paul George. The shot was a deep three-pointer and Lillard buried it, with much discussion about it in the aftermath.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the series 3-1 and the game tied with a few seconds on the clock, Damian Lillard drew Paul George out near halfcourt and buried the shot. George caught a lot of flak online after the game for claiming it was a bad shot.
3 years ago today, DAMIAN LILLARD scored 50 PTS, including this "bad shot" vs OKC. pic.twitter.com/j3fdNWBnCQ
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 23, 2022
At the time, even Lillard didn’t quite rate the comments from George, with the issue blowing up more than a little. In the aftermath of Paul George’s comments, Dame insinuated that if anything, the defense on him was bad.
“For him to say that’s a bad shot, that’s just kind of being a poor sport. If anything, it was bad defense, because I had the ball in my hands with 2 seconds and I wasn’t going to drive, so maybe he should’ve just bodied up.”
The two settled any lingering beef after a while, with George revising how he felt about the shot from Lillard, and the Trail Blazers star explaining that he doesn’t hold any grudges over the comment. But speaking on it recently, Lillard himself referred to the shot as a bad one.
Damian Lillard Reacted To His Legendary Game-Winner In Surprising Fashion
Time and perspective change things for even the most established players, and that’s what seems to have happened with Damian Lillard regarding this. A clip of him reacting to the shot is making the rounds, with Dame making a surprising admission.
Damian Lillard reacting to his playoff game winner against OKC: “That actually was a bad shot” pic.twitter.com/WNxp7rbqJk
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) February 11, 2023
“My game-winner against OKC. Game 5. I have seen this so many times. Every time I see this, one thing that never changes is I can’t believe how deep I was sometimes, like I actually shot that. That actually was a bad shot.”
Bad shot or not, the fact remains that he buried it and it has gone down in history as one of the best game-winners ever. Lillard’s clutchness is what makes him so great, and even though the Trail Blazers don’t look like they will make it back to the postseason, fans will be hoping they get to see more ‘bad shots’ like this soon.
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