Blazers’ Damian Lillard claps back at Clippers’ Patrick Beverley and Paul George for taunts

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The shot clanked off the rim, which set off a sound that became even louder.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley cheered and waved his arms frantically from the bench as Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard surprisingly missed a pair of free throws. Once the Clippers escaped with the 122-117 win Saturday, Clippers forward Paul George waved goodbye to Lillard from afar.

“The reason why they’re reacting like that is what they expect from me, which is a sign of respect and it shows what I’ve done at a high clip,” Lillard said afterwards. “I’m not offended by it. If anything, it should tell you how much it hurt them, what I put them through in those situations previously.”

Earlier in his career, Lillard played a direct role in sending Beverley and George home from the playoffs.

In his second season in 2013-14, Lillard delivered the Trail Blazers’ first playoff series win since 2000 by sinking a game-winning 3-pointer against the Houston Rockets in a decisive Game 6 first-round win. Then, Beverley played the same role with the Rockets as a defensive irritant as he currently does with the Clippers.

Nearly six years later, an injured Beverley enthusiastically stood up from the bench to taunt Lillard. With Portland trailing 118-117 with 18.5 seconds left, Lillard missed two free throws. Clippers coach Doc Rivers likened that development to Tiger Woods missing a five-foot putt. And why not? Lillard is considered one of the NBA’s most clutch players and has shot 88.9% from the free-throw line during his eight-year career. So after both of Lillard’s shots fell short, Beverley celebrated in a few ways. Beverley jumped up and down. Beverley clapped. Beverley laughed with teammate Marcus Morris. Beverley shouted at Lillard.

“I’m sure he has a great memory of that,” Lillard said of Beverley losing in the 2014 playoffs. “That is why that drew that type of reaction from him when he saw me come up short at the end of the game.”

Damian Lillard

 (Photo: Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports)

George shared both Beverley’s elation on Saturday and previous sorrow. In last year’s playoffs, Lillard buried a 37-foot game-winner over George in Portland’s first-round closeout against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In what incidentally marked George’s final game in a Thunder uniform, Lillard gave George and his teammates a goodbye wave after making the shot. Afterwards, George described Lillard’s 37-footer as “a bad shot, but he made it.”

“PG did the wave because he was also surprised because he experienced being waved at last year,” said Lillard, who had 22 points on 10-of-23 shooting. “I know what happened. I expect myself to make those free throws and I didn’t when my team needed it. That is a failure for me that I can accept.”

Not only did Lillard miss a pair of foul shots. He also missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds remaining. And Portland failed to capitalize against an undermanned Clippers team that sat Kawhi Leonard (left knee), Beverley (left calf) and Montrezl Harrell (personal reasons). George also sat the final 5:09 because of a team-imposed minutes restriction on the first night of a back-to-back.

So since Beverley and George could not taunt Lillard with their own play, they taunted Lillard about his own failures.

“Competition. It’s part of the game,” George said. “Simple as that. It’s just competition. Some people can play with talking, some people can’t.”

Lillard can play with talking. He will talk right back, though.

“I don’t see myself as a mental midget or somebody I’m going to hold onto it,” Lillard said. “I’m a shooter. I’m in big situations at the end of the game a lot. And I’ve had success a lot in those situations. Just the way it goes sometimes, you have to come up short and fail in those moments. I know it’s possible because I’m in that situation all the time. When it does happen, that’s not going to discourage me or feel any less confident. If anything, I’m looking at it like I’m sure the next time it’ll go another way.”

Follow USA TODAY NBA writer Mark Medina on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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