The LA Clippers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers led by Paul George's team-high 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting. While defeating the Blazers was huge towards clinching the number two seed in the Western Conference, it was the end of the game and postgame antics involving Patrick Beverley and Damian Lillard that caught everyone's attention.
It started out with Beverley celebrating Lillard's two crucial missed free throws on the Clippers' bench as loud as possible.
Patrick Beverley and Marcus Morris react to Damian Lillard's missed free throws on the Clippers bench.
When asked about Pat after the game, Doc River just laughed and said, "Pat's just loud all the time. He was great."pic.twitter.com/zy2S668GeN
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) August 8, 2020
After the buzzer and a 122-120 victory for LA, Lillard had his postgame press conference, where he took time to take jabs at both Beverley and George when asked about the trash talking that ensued the competitiveness.
“Asking me about Patrick Beverley, who I sent him home before at the end of a game?” Lillard responded. “Paul George got sent home by me last year in the playoffs. So they know. The reason they reacting like that is because of what they expect from me. That's a sign of respect and it shows what I've done at a higher clip more times than not. I'm not offended by it. If anything, it should tell you how much it hurt them to go through what I put them through in those situations previously.”
Lillard is not stranger to the either half of the Clippers duo.
Patrick Beverley and Lillard have gone at it over the last couple of years, including the 2014 first round playoff series between the Blazers and Rockets. The two were a part of Lillard's series-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer in Game 6.
Just last year, Lillard nailed a deep, 38-foot three-pointer over the outstretched arm of Paul George to send the Oklahoma City Thunder home as well.
When asked about the competitiveness on the Clippers side, George kept it simple.
“Competition. It's part of the game. Simple as that. It's just competition. Some people can play with talking, some people can't.”
A big part of what played into the trash talking was the fact that the Clippers' second and third stringers pulled off the improbable victory. Lou Williams was benched for the final 9:18 of the game, Paul George as benched for the final 5:09 of the game, and Marcus Morris as benched for the final 2:09 of the game. In his postgame interview, head coach Doc Rivers said the moves were a result of the minutes restrictions put in place for the first half of a back-to-back set.
The Clippers moved to 47-22 with the win and are one step closer to securing the number two seed in the Western Conference.
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