Lillard Labels Seeding Finale as ‘The Most Important Game of Our Lives’

Damian Lillard, who has dealt with chatty first-round dispatchees and has-been talking heads in recent days, produced a cathartic 61-point performance in the Trail Blazers’ much-needed win over the Mavericks on Tuesday. After positioning the Blazers for victory, Lillard’s exhalation was perfectly captured in an outburst that appeared to be directed at those who lined up to take shots at his standing in the NBA.

You don’t need a degree in lip reading to understand the point Lillard was making in this clip:

With the Blazers currently ahead of the Grizzlies in the win column, Lillard detailed the importance of Portland’s upcoming matchup with Brooklyn in a post-game interview with Chris Haynes.

“That’s the most important game of our lives. Tonight was great, we said we need one win. We gonna focus on one game, we got this one done and that’s the most important one. We got to finish it out right. We got to come out with the same mentality we had tonight, get the job done. We control our own destiny and we know what we got to do.”

For those keeping score, that quote, made by a player who just joined Wilt Chamberlain on hallowed scoring ground, included the word “we” nine times. The word “I” did not appear once.

The Blazers return to action on Thursday to finish out their eight-game seeding schedule against the Nets.