NBA players have swear words and other hurtful things said to them all the time when they're playing on the road, and Thursday night in Orlando, Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard had enough of it.
Apparently, a Magic fan was heckling Damian Lillard throughout the first half of the Blazers-Magic game. Lillard, usually a calm person, decided to talk some smack back at the fan as he was leaving the court after the first half ended.
Orlando fan heckling Dame during his free throws got some words from Dame after that final possession of half. pic.twitter.com/JxZpHqEw3K
— Bruce Ely (@bruceely) October 26, 2018
Usually don't see Dame talk much to the crowd, but he let whoever this was know about it as he was walking off the court for the intermission. https://t.co/ZnpAZEoKaI
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) October 26, 2018
It should be noted that last year in Orlando, some fans were rude to Damian Lillard's mom. The three-time All-Star has clearly not forgotten about what transpired last season.
The fan in Orlando made a big mistake going after Damian Lillard. The scoring guard dropped 41 points against the Magic in 36 minutes of action to lead the Blazers to a 128-114 win. Lillard had 34 points in the second half alone, which is a franchise record for most points scored in the second half by a Blazers player. Portland is now 3-1 on the young season.
Damian Lillard now has 17 career 40-point games, tied with Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler for the most in franchise history. One can assume that Lillard used the taunting fan as motivation to go off in the second half.