Damian Lillard
Meyers Leonard
Game 4: Trail Blazers Postgame
Golden State 119, Portland 117
Q. Can you describe what you're feeling at this
moment?
MEYERS LEONARD: What you said describes it well.
It's definitely bittersweet for me. I'm thankful to the
staff, for having faith and confidence in me to step in in
Game 3 and 4 and do our best to help us win.
I just went out there and played confident. Teammates
such as Dame [Damian Lillard] down the line tell me to
be aggressive and do what I do. Unfortunately our
season is over, this is a very special team, guys that
really care about each other and come to work every
single day ready to go.
Personally, it's just back to the drawing board I
suppose. It was I suppose a fun couple of games for
me, but it's not about me. It's about the team and us
figuring out ways to win. Just got to move forward, I
suppose.
Q. Might be a little early to ask this without time to
reflect on it, but this is the farthest you've played in
the playoffs, getting to the Conference Finals.
What did you both learn about playing at this level
of competition this deep into the playoffs?
DAMIAN LILLARD: Like you said, it's the furthest we
have played into the postseason, and that's a little bit
deeper water than what we've seen. It's a little bit
more physically and mentally trying; the level of play is
higher. There's more on the line. Teams, they take
their scouting reports and detail to the next level. I
think it was a great experience for us. You know, a lot
of people will look back at it and say they got swept, but
you know, we had a double-digit lead in the last three
games, and just didn't -- wasn't able to hold onto it.
So I think we showed that we're capable of being here
and competing at this level. But you know, it's definitely
different.
MEYERS LEONARD: To piggyback off what Dame
said, this is a great experience for us. Obviously this is
not the way we wanted to finish the season. You know,
give the Warriors credit. They have kind of been there,
done that, obviously. You know, they are able to
sustain a certain level of play and execution that clearly
allowed them to find their way back, and like Dame
said, the last three games. I think it was 15-plus
maybe in three straight games, and yet they found a
way to execute and get the job done. So, you know, I
know after being here for seven years, I couldn't be
more proud of what we did, but now it's time to take the
summer, come back, get better as a collective unit and
get ready to go next year.
Like Dame said, this is a great experience for us. We
know we can play with the elite teams in this league,
and I think this is our first time in 19 years, so that's
pretty special. You know, this is a city that embraces
our team and embraces this organization, and it was --
for me personally, it was incredible, honestly, to be out
on the floor and to feel that feeling. But now, we have
to find a way to take another step.
Q. When you reflect in a couple weeks, what will be
the lasting memory from the season? Is there a
moment that will stick with you?
DAMIAN LILLARD: I don't think it's one moment that
will stick with us. I think just looking at the season
overall. You know, I think it was just a special season
for us. We're coming off back-to-back sweeps. It's
another sweep, but you'd rather be swept in the
Western Conference Finals than in the first round. I
just think we look back at the season overall, and the
way we responded after a lot of people got on our
cases. A lot of people came down on us.
And we got back to work. Each guy came back better
individually and we put together a great season. You
know, we lose our owner [Paul Allen]. We dealt with
injuries, CJ [McCollum] missed a lot of games at a
crucial stretch in the season, and we just kept
answering the call, and that takes a group of guys to
maybe go from not playing minutes, stepping up, giving
us good minutes, trusting each other, leaning on each
other. It takes a real group to be able to come together
in those hard times on more than one occasion, and I
thought we did that.
You know, we put together a great season and we put
ourselves in position to go to the Finals. I think every
other team in the league would wish they could be in
our shoes; not only making the playoffs but playing for
an opportunity to get a chance to go to the Finals, and
we just ran up on a team who has been there the last
four years.
When it came time, they were a player down and they
executed and they were sharp and they did everything
a level up from what we did. They were able to come
out on top, but I think we can look back at it and see a
lot of moments where guys stepped up to the plate
from top to bottom on our roster and allowed this type
of season to happen?
Q. Going into this playoff series, we talked about
the idea that you needed to show something to get
the respect that kind of some of the people at your
same echelon get. How do you look back at your
player performance now throughout the entire
postseason?
DAMIAN LILLARD: I thought I had a great playoff
performance. Obviously the first round was great by
our team. I thought I performed great in the first round.
In the second round, I think because of how I played in
the first round, I got a lot more attention. You know,
everything I did, it was bodies. They wanted me to
work, picking me up full court and guarding me a lot
more physical. I thought even in the second round, I
was really productive.
Maybe in the past, if I wasn't scoring the ball, I wouldn't
have had as much of an impact on the game as I did,
even in that series, but I still thought I scored a lot in
that series. Like I said, I impacted it.
And then coming into this series, like I said earlier,
teams, the detail, is much sharper. The scouting report
is much sharper, and I think even in this series, they
just -- you know, they sent bodies at me. I was seeing
two guys and if I got past that layer of the defense,
there was another player waiting. Draymond [Green]
played free safety the whole series.
I think given this being the furthest we've played into
the postseason, how teams came after me and still
being able to find a way to be productive, you know, I
thought I had a great postseason. Obviously I look
back at the times where I struggled the most, and I'm
going to critique myself off of that.
But I think overall, I had a great postseason.
MEYERS LEONARD: Let me say something real quick.
Damian and I have been here together seven years,
and I study a lot of film and for anyone who thinks he
wasn't productive or should have made more shots or
go score more, go watch the film. They throw a lot of
bodies at him, even if he gets blitzed, like you said, he's
getting downhill, guys on the help side, essentially
saying, Damian Lillard, you are not going to beat us.
So I just want to make sure the naysayers know how
much of an impact he has, how great of a leader he is,
and his willingness to find the next man and count on
them to make a play. And it's as simple as that.
Q. I'm going to give you a chance to say something
nice about the guy next to you, in 26 games, did
not even play this season, Coach's decision, in and
out of the rotation, gets into the starting lineup last
game and plays well, but tonight, what can you say
about what he did?
DAMIAN LILLARD: I think tonight was special. I just
remember in the first half, I looked up and in my mind, I
remembered him just making a bunch of shots, and
then I looked up and it was like, this dude got 25 points
and I was like, he really killing right now (laughing). I
had never seen him have like a moment like that, you
know, and what better time than, you know, for him to
have that type of moment. So I was excited for him.
I think that just goes into what I said earlier, all season
long, we have had things happen and guys have had to
step up, and he's a prime example of that. Not just this
year, but over the last seven years, a lot of people have
a lot to say about him and what he doesn't do and all
those things. As NBA players, they get online and they
say things and they don't really know what goes on
behind closed doors. They say things without knowing
-- knowing, but without taking into consideration that
we're people, and we go home to families and friends
and kids like everybody else, and they just beat you
down, beat you down, beat you down and I think he's
been through that.
So to see him have a moment like he had tonight, and
being here with him from day one, nobody was more
happy for him than I was, and it was a great night for
him. I just wish it would have been a win, you know, so
people could really give him that credit for that
performance.
Q. You obviously were playing through injury for a
good part of this series, but tonight it looks like
you left it all on the court. What mindset did you
have to have to be able to battle that fatigue and
injury and play like you did tonight?
DAMIAN LILLARD: I mean, I've had worse injuries. I
think it's as simple as that. I've had worse injuries, so I
didn't come into the game saying, "Oh, I'm playing
through the injury."
You know, it was something that yesterday at practice, I
shot the same. I did the same stuff I always do. So
obviously it's there, it's pain. But it's not something
that's impacting what I do on the floor. I think that's the
best way to put it. I've played through worse things.
But I think just fatigue. You know, just all of the
attention. After 82 games, this being the deepest
we've played, and teams are coming after you. That
takes energy to deal with that and to make plays and to
try to score, and go to the other end and chase guys
around and stuff like that. That takes energy, so I think,
like I said, it was there. Obviously it's pain, but it's not
something that affected anything involving like my
performance or me having to leave it all out there. I
was going to leave it all out there the same way if I was
100 percent healthy, but that's just what it was. I went
out there, the season was on the line, I did what I
could.
Q. You guys are so connected, and for a team like
that to come in here, three straight times, really,
and overturn a 17-point deficit in the second half,
what is it about them to do that against a group like
you, and what are the intangible qualities you saw
in them throughout this series?
DAMIAN LILLARD: I mean, they have got great
players. You know, I think the first thing everybody
looks to is the shot making. So you say, you know,
Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], they're shooting
the ball all over the place, but I mean, Draymond
Green, he's nonstop talking on the court. He's
rebounding the ball. He's basically the point guard of
the team. He's pushing the ball. He's making plays.
He's calling out our plays. I mean, he's controlling
everything for them.
I think because he's always so vocal, always on top of
everybody, always kind of managing everything for
them, it keeps them consistent. They're steady.
I think for us, Game 2 and Game 3, we were great for
three quarters, and the one quarter we weren't, it was
the third quarter, and they made big runs in the third
quarter and I think that was when they got back into the
game each time. So I think just how steady they were,
that shows in a championship team; it's whether they're
down, whether they're up, they do the same things.
They play the same way. The ball is hopping around.
They're moving around. They're screening. Everything
is sharp every possession. They rebounding the ball.
Hands active.
And I think we did a lot of those things when we were
winning the games, but then the second we stopped
doing those things or relaxed, they were still doing it,
and they made up ground and it led to two threes in a
row, and then we get a foul, two free throws, offensive
rebound, three, and before you know it, you was up 15
and now it's a three-point game and they're feeling
good.
So I think just how steady they are, and I think that's
led by Draymond Green.
