While the NBA bubble has been a balm for basketball fans missing the sport, it has been a mostly timid affair, as teams get back into game shape. However, thanks to Portland Trail Blazer star Damian Lillard and a pair of Los Angeles Clippers, the bubble now has its first bit of much-needed drama and banter.
At the end of Portland’s 122-117 loss to the Clippers on Saturday, Lillard missed two key free throws that essentially lost the game for his team. As is his custom, Clippers guard Patrick Beverley immediately jumped on the misses, waving bye-bye to Lillard and the Blazers, who are on the outside of the playoff race. His teammate Paul George also joined in on the mocking, a fact that Lillard did not take lying down.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Lillard was candid about having sent both Clippers home in recent years:
Damian Lillard on the antics of Patrick Beverly and Paul George down the stretch of today’s game. Lillard unloads. pic.twitter.com/NFgEiiVHVi
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 8, 2020
Bleacher Report posted the quote on Instagram after the game, and that’s when things got very 2020 in this feud. Beverley jumped into the comments to mock Lillard further, with George piling on. Lillard then fired back at George for switching teams twice in the last few years, first going from the Indiana Pacers to the Oklahoma City Thunder before making his way to the Clippers this off-season:
LMFAOOOO
Patrick Beverley, Paul George, and Damian Lillard going at it😂😂 pic.twitter.com/4c6QhgteNe
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) August 8, 2020
For his part, George fired back that his Pacers teams had been more successful than Lillard ever had, furthering the back-and-forth. It’s a shame that the Blazers and Clippers have no games remaining on the schedule against each other, and that a playoff series seems wildly unlikely, because this mini-feud has been one of the more interesting parts of the bubble to date. There’s always next season, though.
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