It would have been great for Damian Lillard if he was able to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a victory in his return to his former stomping ground. The Portland Trail Blazers, however, saw to it that this wasn’t going to be the case.
Despite a 25-point effort from Dame, it was the home team that prevailed as the Blazers took down the Bucks, 119-116.
Chauncey Billups Reacts to Huge Win Vs. Milwaukee Bucks
After his team’s hard-fought victory, Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups had to give his players their flowers. The 47-year-old acknowledged that the return of Lillard meant that this was a special occasion for the Blazers and their fans, which further highlights the importance of this victory.
“I just didn’t think the moment was too big for our team,” Billups said in a postgame interview (h/t Kristen Wong of SI). “We just played so hard. We played together. We continue to get better just playing with each other… I want Dame to play well 80 times a year, except for when he plays against us. This was, I felt like, just a big, big character win for us. A culture win for us.”
The Blazers aren’t going to be competing for a championship this season. The fact that they’ve racked up just 15 wins all season long against 33 losses also means that they are one of the worst teams in the NBA (they are currently second to the last in the West).
Taking all this into consideration, defeating the mighty Bucks on Lillard’s return is an undeniably massive victory for them. As Billups said, win no. 15 is without a doubt one of their biggest triumphs of the season.
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