Damian Lillard revealed a lot more about his mindset after his recent tiff with Paul George and Patrick Beverley of the Los Angeles Clippers, who took to clowning him after the Portland Trail Blazers came up short on Saturday.

Lillard missed two clutch free throws with 18.6 seconds left in regulation, allowing the Clippers to survive and George to clown him at the end of the game with Lillard's signature goodbye wave. It didn't take long for Beverley to chime in as well, despite not even seeing the court that game.

The Blazers star was composed in the postgame media availability, but he revealed why he didn't seem trigger-shy on social media after shots were fired:

“Failure is going to happen. I'm not above failing or coming up short, and it happened in that moment,” Lillard explained to TNT's Chris Haynes on Monday. “Teams are gonna talk trash, but it turned into a taunt when they started slapping their wrist and waving way after the fact.

“And then I was asked about it, so when I was asked about it I was like, ‘Shots being fired in my direction, I'm gonna fire back facts.'”

Lillard was even-keeled, but that didn't keep him from unveiling the root of the taunting and the social media rift between him and the Clippers. He acknowledged he sent Beverley home in the past and recently sent George packing to the point of switching jerseys — something he ensured to mention in his Instagram response.

To make his point that much clearer, Lillard erupted for 51 points in a must-win game against the Philadelphia 76ers the following day — showing “Dame Time” is very much alive with an 18-point fourth quarter performance. Meanwhile, the Clippers turned out another disappointing performance, losing to a shorthanded Brooklyn Nets team that same day.