OKLAHOMA CITY – With 5 minutes, 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Damian Lillard struck two hard dribbles with his left hand, put his man on his hip and squared assistant defender Al Horford.
It was a one-point game, the Oklahoma City Thunder took the lead, and as Lillard did, he pressed the eject button to stand up and fire Horford’s face, the kind of shot on which the “Lady Time” mythology was built.
The problem was, up until that point, he was 1-of-9 from 3-point distance. It was not a typical Lillard game, with the flurry of logo shots and dazzling edge finishes. He was short, he was left, he was right. And this one about Horford – this one was missed very briefly and left.
Lillard has driven the battered Blazers behind these moments over the past month, carrying the burden of clutch time on his shoulders while keeping young talent like Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr. and Nassir Little tries to bring along. But the big spots, the shots of time, it belongs to Lillard.
But with icy air in Oklahoma that was cool to the point that the state had a state of emergency for energy, with basically every light in the arena turned off, but those who had to light the floor were icy cold. And not in the right way.
The Thunder, as they regularly do this season, scraped with their young players and hung in the game long enough for energy and athleticism to weaken an opponent. Hamidou Diallo jumped across the floor; Lu Dort was plowing snow to the edge. A 20-point blazer lead changed to a five-point deficit with four minutes left. It was reaching a now-or-never point for Lady Time.
“There’s concern,” Lillard admits. He said he looked at the standings when the Blazers’ lead was 93-84, hoping his team could hit two quick tries, calm the Thunder’s run and then take control to land easily.
“But I was just like, ‘Man, that would be a difficult loss for us. We played so well. “But as soon as I went back to court, I was just like …” he says and waits a moment.
“I never think there’s a game I can ‘t take control of,” he said. “When I’m out there, I feel how hard the defense is trying to stop me. When I see how vigilant and how actively they are trying to stop me, it just lets me know that they are concerned. They are worried no matter how good or how bad. I’m shooting the ball.And for me it’s still a spiritual thing for me, even though they know I’m not hot, they’m still worried and I want to show them why they should be worried.And why they’re still on the point must stand. ‘
0:52
Enes Kanter comments on Damian Lillard’s amazing play and says he’s never seen anything like it.
His first late game 3 came at the 4:11 mark, with Dort flying at him on a fake pump. Lillard took a dribble and drained calmly. The Thunder’s lead dropped to two and it ended in a 23-4 run that opened OKC’s fourth quarter. With the Thunder now ready, he lined up Trent on the next trip for a corner 3 and the Blazers had the lead.
The next possession worked Lillard to shake Dort off of him and force a switch. He tilts back in a quick release over Isaiah Roby and hits the bottom of the net. A few possessions later had Lillard Dort in isolation. A defensive defender who worked tirelessly to hunt down Lillard, Dort remained with every stab, every blanket, every false. While the shot clock is ticking, Lillard goes behind his back and takes a big step back to climb into a 3 with a little extra lean and a little extra bow due to the star defense. No matter – it was Lady Time. Two trips later, Lillard struck another for the official dagger to give the Blazers a fifth consecutive victory, 115-104 over OKC.
Lillard started the game 1-of-10 from 3-point distance. He finishes 4-out-4. Just a standard 31-point game with seven rebounds and 10 assists – and a win.
“He’s like a cheat code – I’ve never seen anything like it,” Enes Kanter said. “And I’ve played with some great players before. But I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s wild.”
The Dame Time mentality is one that has been well received, and Lillard has been answering questions about it since his first famous clutch shot dropped – in 2014 to eliminate the Houston Rockets. But he revealed Tuesday part of unlocking the mindset of embracing big moments is in his own personal mind game with himself.
“I do not know why,” he said, “I’m just doing it.”
2:24
Stephen A. Smith apologizes for looking forward to Damian Lillard’s exceptional performances this season.
The attentiveness of defenders, the fear he hears in voices of assistant coaches pleading players to stay on him, could serve as an injection for Lillard, even if the shot does not fall.
“It’s encouraging in those moments,” Lillard said. “Sometimes I fall short. Sometimes they do well enough or do not go into the shots, but in those moments I tell myself that if they walk away from the court, they might go back and say, ‘That’s why we wanted you had to do it so that it would not happen to us. “I want to do it to the opposing team.”
Lillard said he could not remember exactly when he started playing those mind games with himself – maybe his second season, he guessed – and that he did not really have a statement about how he was taking him mentally to that place to to turn it on.
“It’s internal,” he said. “You just demand it. You’re just demanding something extra from yourself. Nothing comes from [Blazers head] coach [Terry] Stotts, nothing comes from [NBA development coach] Phil Beckner, none of that. It’s just on the inside, I’m like, ‘I have to find a way.’ It is an opportunity to stand up and grow. ‘
Late in the third quarter, Lillard bumped knees with Dort and took it longer to try to shut it down. The Blazers committed an offense so he could let it go on the bench, and even after he was completely clear to return, Lillard watched as he occasionally rubbed and bent the knee. It was a brief moment of panic for the Blazers, who had already dealt with a wave of exhaustion. This weakening has given some of their young players a chance to develop, which could benefit the team in the long run, but as the past post-season has shown, there is no Dame Time, which means there are no Blazers .
That’s why he accepts the responsibility he bears, especially without CJ McCollum, who is injured. And even on an evening when that did not happen, Lillard’s inner voice kept talking to him, telling him that there was a moment’s chance.
‘I said it to myself and I fall short many times. But it’s a real thing, ‘he said. “I always talk to myself like that. You have to find a way. You have to get going. You shot the whole game badly, but it’s a new beginning. I always talk to myself like that.”
Ice cold. In the right way.