Lillard Remains Level After Blazers’ Loss to the Wolves

Despite a 38-point performance from Damian Lillard, the Trail Blazers suffered a 114-112 loss to the cellar-dwelling Timberwolves on Sunday. Portland has now tasted defeat in two of their three games after the All-Star break.

After the game, Lillard explained that now is not the time to panic. NBC Sports Northwest’s Jamie Hudson highlighted Lillard’s level-headed postgame comments following Sunday’s result.

“We gave a good effort defensively, but offensively it just wasn’t a great night… They shot forty free throws to 19. I think we shot 19 free throws, they shot almost 40. There was a lot of timely whistles… It was a lot of factors down the stretch of the game, we just came up short.”

Regardless of their slow start (the Blazers’ generated a season-low 20 points in the first quarter) and a considerable disparity in free throw attempts, the Blazers managed to pull within a single possession in the final moments of the game.

Along with Lillard, third-year guard Gary Trent Jr. explained that the Blazers will return to the drawing board instead of panicking.

“We’ll just continue to compete, watch film, stay with it day-by-day, something is going to have to give.”

The Blazers return to action on Tuesday with matchup against the Pelicans. You can read Hudson’s full report at NBC Sports Northwest.