Damian Lillard came out determined in his approach to a crucial Game 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, one that could give the Portland Trail Blazers a massive upper hand in the series by putting their first-round playoff rivals on the brink of elimination heading back home to the Moda Center for Game 5.
The Blazers guard recalled the frustration emanating from the locker room, as the Blazers had a 39-24 disparity in free-throw shooting attempts in Game 3 and a 13-point differential overall from the foul line that could have written the tale of their 120-108 loss:
“After Game 3, we were in the locker room saying they lived at the free throw line and all this stuff, but Game 4, we're not talking to nobody but ourselves,” Lillard said, according to ESPN's Royce Young. “Referees can call it how they want to call, we're just going to worry about ourselves.”
Lillard knew the Blazers still had the chance to punch a dent in this series by stealing a game on the road, focusing on the task at hand instead of what went wrong in the last game, as Thunder players used their home-court advantage to constantly trash talk the Blazers into frustration:
“After last game, it was a big deal being made out of the back-and-forth and we weren't emotional about it — we were just competing,” Lillard continued. “We were just passionate about the game as well. But like I said earlier, we didn't really engage in it because our focus was our team. Like I told you guys, we're not gonna come out here and go crazy on the referees, we're not gonna go out here and get in any shouting matches and back-and-forths and all that stuff. We're gonna focus on the stuff we need to focus on that's gonna give us a chance to win the game. I was proud of how our team stuck to that.”
Portland now holds a 3-1 lead in the series heading into a closeout game at the Moda Center, virtually smelling a second-round entrance in the near future.
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