Nic Batum when asked how they felt when Houston had a 13 point lead.... "We had a 13 point lead in the first half. It only matters what the score is when the final buzzer sounds" Dame when asked about Beverly, even though everyone knows he manhandled Beverly. "He's a great defender. My hat goes off to him. His job is to make it hard for other PGs to play in the flow and I'm just happy I was able to help us win this game". Class and made a public acknowledgement that Beverly cannot get into Dame's head. Add quotes here!
I loved what Lillard did. He learned his lesson from the last regular season game and has dismissed Beverley like superior posters dismiss trolls. He now understands that's Beverley's schtick and he doesn't play into it.
His drives to the basket are way more efficient now; note how he avoided contact to just score. The contact comes anyway, and since he's just trying to score, he gets the whistles. Many players take three or four seasons to learn what Dame does in about half a season.
I'm serious when I see Lillard on the big stage and he looks like a 10 year vet. It's insane on how much poise he has.
It is clear that Lillard isn't going to lose the mental game, ever. So much for Bev's strategy, I guess he'll have to rely on overwhelming Dame with his talent!
Exactly... That's why I feel reminded of LBJ, Kobe, Jordan, etc. Players that you can't play mental games with. The difference was that those players needed years of falling victim of those games to finally realize how to overcome. Lillard is only a second year player!
I really like the professionalism our team has when talking about the other team. Like Dame saying that Beverly is a good defender, Lopez saying Howard is a great player, Aldridge saying Houston is a great team, etc. Gives absolutely zero fuel for the other team to bring their game up. They just walk in, win and go out like this is what you are supposed to do. On the flip side, Howard makes a comment like "Portland didn't do anything special, we beat ourselves"
Lillard, post game interview. Q = "Looked like you injured your foot out there." A = "No, someone kneed me in the thigh. He missed my pad and kneed me in the thigh. But I'm fine."