It's no question that Jusuf Nurkic has Damian Lillard's back at all times. The Portland Trail Blazers starting center has been known to be an enforcer and has never shied away from speaking his mind – both on and off the court. On Sunday, Lillard converted clutch bucket after clutch bucket to lead the Blazers to a crucial W against the Philadelphia 76ers and Nurkic took the opportunity post-game to praise his point guard.
And in true Nurkic fashion, of course he had to take a slight jab and add some fuel to the on-going feud between Lillard and Los Angeles forward Paul George.
“He's just taking bad shots, right? Simple as that.” Nurkic told reporters after Sunday's win (per Ben Golliver on Twitter). “Luckily for us, he makes most of them.”
Blazers’ Jusuf Nurkic on Damian Lillard, w/ a callback to Paul George & the 2019 playoffs: “He’s just taking bad shots, right? Simple as that. Luckily for us he makes most of them.” pic.twitter.com/wp6ld4LRzf
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) August 10, 2020
At first, Jusuf Nurkic's comments seem rather innocent. But if you remember George's comments after Lillard sent him and his former team the Oklahoma City Thunder home in last year's playoffs with a crazy buzzer-beater from the logo, it's hard to give the Bosnian Beast the benefit of the doubt here.
Tonight, Lillard had another one of his vintage “Dame Time” moments as he knocked down a couple of huge threes down the stretch to lead Portland to an important win. The five-time All-Star erupted for a total 51 points and became just the eighth player in NBA history to tally at least five 50-point games in a single season. Lillard also continued his tradition of hitting “bad shots” to send some teams packing. Tonight's win officially eliminated the New Orleans Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings from playoff contention.
Keep taking these “bad shots”, Dame. We're here for it.
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