Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard hails from Oakland. Ordinarily, a player's city of birth has no impact on the ins and outs of an NBA game. However, most of Lillard's hometown friends are fans of the Golden State Warriors, which causes a conflict of interest when the two teams play at Oracle Arena.

Currently, the Blazers are battling the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, which means Lillard will have at least two opportunities to play in front of his personal hometown crowd.

Following Portland's 116-94 loss in Game 1 of the series, Lillard was asked to comment on playing in front of his friends from the Oakland area:

“Damian, can you speak to the emotions that you feel coming back home to Oakland, playing in the conference finals?” a reporter asked Lillard. “Is it something special to be able to play here in your home city, or is it a distraction?”

“I think the situation is special,” Lillard replied. “Obviously, growing up in Oakland, growing up a Warriors fan and this being the last year for them playing in Oakland. It's special for those reasons.

“But for me, it's not my first time playing against this team,” Lillard added. “It's not my first time playing here, so wouldn't say it's a distraction. I think it's a bigger deal to everybody else than it is to me. Everybody wants to talk about it and make a big deal about it, but I'm just here to play basketball.

“I see and talk to my family all of the time, so it's not like I haven't seen them since I've been in the NBA,” Lillard said in closing. “We're just trying to win a series. All of the extra stuff — that's coming from someone else — not me.”

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Lillard struggled with accuracy in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. He logged 37 minutes, scoring 19 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field (2-of-5 from beyond the arc), six assists and four rebounds. He also racked up seven turnovers and a plus-minus score of minus-12. However, he was perfect from the free-throw line, going 9-for-9.

The Trail Blazers and Warriors will meet for Game 2 on Thursday night. Tip-off inside Oracle Arena is set for 9:00 p.m. ET, with ESPN having live broadcast coverage.