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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: TRAIL BLAZERS VS. WARRIORSMay 20, 2019Damian LillardMeyers LeonardPortland, Oregon - Postgame 4 Golden State 119, Portland 117 Q. Can you describe what you're feeling at this moment? MEYERS LEONARD: What you said describes it well. It's definitely bittersweet for me. I'm thankful to the staff, for having faith and confidence in me to step in in Game 3 and 4 and do our best to help us win. I just went out there and played confident. Teammates such as Dame [Damian Lillard] down the line tell me to be aggressive and do what I do. Unfortunately our season is over, this is a very special team, guys that really care about each other and come to work every single day ready to go. Personally, it's just back to the drawing board I suppose. It was I suppose a fun couple of games for me, but it's not about me. It's about the team and us figuring out ways to win. Just got to move forward, I suppose. Q. Might be a little early to ask this without time to reflect on it, but this is the farthest you've played in the playoffs, getting to the Conference Finals. What did you both learn about playing at this level of competition this deep into the playoffs? DAMIAN LILLARD: Like you said, it's the furthest we have played into the postseason, and that's a little bit deeper water than what we've seen. It's a little bit more physically and mentally trying; the level of play is higher. There's more on the line. Teams, they take their scouting reports and detail to the next level. I think it was a great experience for us. You know, a lot of people will look back at it and say they got swept, but you know, we had a double-digit lead in the last three games, and just didn't -- wasn't able to hold onto it. So I think we showed that we're capable of being here and competing at this level. But you know, it's definitely different. MEYERS LEONARD: To piggyback off what Dame said, this is a great experience for us. Obviously this is not the way we wanted to finish the season. You know, give the Warriors credit. They have kind of been there, done that, obviously. You know, they are able to sustain a certain level of play and execution that clearly allowed them to find their way back, and like Dame said, the last three games. I think it was 15-plus maybe in three straight games, and yet they found a way to execute and get the job done. So, you know, I know after being here for seven years, I couldn't be more proud of what we did, but now it's time to take the summer, come back, get better as a collective unit and get ready to go next year. Like Dame said, this is a great experience for us. We know we can play with the elite teams in this league, and I think this is our first time in 19 years, so that's pretty special. You know, this is a city that embraces our team and embraces this organization, and it was -- for me personally, it was incredible, honestly, to be out on the floor and to feel that feeling. But now, we have to find a way to take another step. Q. When you reflect in a couple weeks, what will be the lasting memory from the season? Is there a moment that will stick with you? DAMIAN LILLARD: I don't think it's one moment that will stick with us. I think just looking at the season overall. You know, I think it was just a special season for us. We're coming off back-to-back sweeps. It's another sweep, but you'd rather be swept in the Western Conference Finals than in the first round. I just think we look back at the season overall, and the way we responded after a lot of people got on our cases. A lot of people came down on us. And we got back to work. Each guy came back better individually and we put together a great season. You know, we lose our owner [Paul Allen]. We dealt with injuries, CJ [McCollum] missed a lot of games at a crucial stretch in the season, and we just kept answering the call, and that takes a group of guys to maybe go from not playing minutes, stepping up, giving us good minutes, trusting each other, leaning on each other. It takes a real group to be able to come together in those hard times on more than one occasion, and I thought we did that. You know, we put together a great season and we put ourselves in position to go to the Finals. I think every other team in the league would wish they could be in our shoes; not only making the playoffs but playing for an opportunity to get a chance to go to the Finals, and we just ran up on a team who has been there the last four years. When it came time, they were a player down and they executed and they were sharp and they did everything a level up from what we did. They were able to come out on top, but I think we can look back at it and see a lot of moments where guys stepped up to the plate from top to bottom on our roster and allowed this type of season to happen? Q. Going into this playoff series, we talked about the idea that you needed to show something to get the respect that kind of some of the people at your same echelon get. How do you look back at your player performance now throughout the entire postseason? DAMIAN LILLARD: I thought I had a great playoff performance. Obviously the first round was great by our team. I thought I performed great in the first round. In the second round, I think because of how I played in the first round, I got a lot more attention. You know, everything I did, it was bodies. They wanted me to work, picking me up full court and guarding me a lot more physical. I thought even in the second round, I was really productive. Maybe in the past, if I wasn't scoring the ball, I wouldn't have had as much of an impact on the game as I did, even in that series, but I still thought I scored a lot in that series. Like I said, I impacted it. And then coming into this series, like I said earlier, teams, the detail, is much sharper. The scouting report is much sharper, and I think even in this series, they just -- you know, they sent bodies at me. I was seeing two guys and if I got past that layer of the defense, there was another player waiting. Draymond [Green] played free safety the whole series. I think given this being the furthest we've played into the postseason, how teams came after me and still being able to find a way to be productive, you know, I thought I had a great postseason. Obviously I look back at the times where I struggled the most, and I'm going to critique myself off of that. But I think overall, I had a great postseason. MEYERS LEONARD: Let me say something real quick. Damian and I have been here together seven years, and I study a lot of film and for anyone who thinks he wasn't productive or should have made more shots or go score more, go watch the film. They throw a lot of bodies at him, even if he gets blitzed, like you said, he's getting downhill, guys on the help side, essentially saying, Damian Lillard, you are not going to beat us. So I just want to make sure the naysayers know how much of an impact he has, how great of a leader he is, and his willingness to find the next man and count on them to make a play. And it's as simple as that. Q. I'm going to give you a chance to say something nice about the guy next to you, in 26 games, did not even play this season, Coach's decision, in and out of the rotation, gets into the starting lineup last game and plays well, but tonight, what can you say about what he did? DAMIAN LILLARD: I think tonight was special. I just remember in the first half, I looked up and in my mind, I remembered him just making a bunch of shots, and then I looked up and it was like, this dude got 25 points and I was like, he really killing right now (laughing). I had never seen him have like a moment like that, you know, and what better time than, you know, for him to have that type of moment. So I was excited for him. I think that just goes into what I said earlier, all season long, we have had things happen and guys have had to step up, and he's a prime example of that. Not just this year, but over the last seven years, a lot of people have a lot to say about him and what he doesn't do and all those things. As NBA players, they get online and they say things and they don't really know what goes on behind closed doors. They say things without knowing -- knowing, but without taking into consideration that we're people, and we go home to families and friends and kids like everybody else, and they just beat you down, beat you down, beat you down and I think he's been through that. So to see him have a moment like he had tonight, and being here with him from day one, nobody was more happy for him than I was, and it was a great night for him. I just wish it would have been a win, you know, so people could really give him that credit for that performance. Q. You obviously were playing through injury for a good part of this series, but tonight it looks like you left it all on the court. What mindset did you have to have to be able to battle that fatigue and injury and play like you did tonight? DAMIAN LILLARD: I mean, I've had worse injuries. I think it's as simple as that. I've had worse injuries, so I didn't come into the game saying, "Oh, I'm playing through the injury." You know, it was something that yesterday at practice, I shot the same. I did the same stuff I always do. So obviously it's there, it's pain. But it's not something that's impacting what I do on the floor. I think that's the best way to put it. I've played through worse things. But I think just fatigue. You know, just all of the attention. After 82 games, this being the deepest we've played, and teams are coming after you. That takes energy to deal with that and to make plays and to try to score, and go to the other end and chase guys around and stuff like that. That takes energy, so I think, like I said, it was there. Obviously it's pain, but it's not something that affected anything involving like my performance or me having to leave it all out there. I was going to leave it all out there the same way if I was 100 percent healthy, but that's just what it was. I went out there, the season was on the line, I did what I could. Q. You guys are so connected, and for a team like that to come in here, three straight times, really, and overturn a 17-point deficit in the second half, what is it about them to do that against a group like you, and what are the intangible qualities you saw in them throughout this series? DAMIAN LILLARD: I mean, they have got great players. You know, I think the first thing everybody looks to is the shot making. So you say, you know, Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], they're shooting the ball all over the place, but I mean, Draymond Green, he's nonstop talking on the court. He's rebounding the ball. He's basically the point guard of the team. He's pushing the ball. He's making plays. He's calling out our plays. I mean, he's controlling everything for them. I think because he's always so vocal, always on top of everybody, always kind of managing everything for them, it keeps them consistent. They're steady. I think for us, Game 2 and Game 3, we were great for three quarters, and the one quarter we weren't, it was the third quarter, and they made big runs in the third quarter and I think that was when they got back into the game each time. So I think just how steady they were, that shows in a championship team; it's whether they're down, whether they're up, they do the same things. They play the same way. The ball is hopping around. They're moving around. They're screening. Everything is sharp every possession. They rebounding the ball. Hands active. And I think we did a lot of those things when we were winning the games, but then the second we stopped doing those things or relaxed, they were still doing it, and they made up ground and it led to two threes in a row, and then we get a foul, two free throws, offensive rebound, three, and before you know it, you was up 15 and now it's a three-point game and they're feeling good. So I think just how steady they are, and I think that's led by Draymond Green. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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