Damian Lillard’s return to Portland wound up falling short of a win on Wednesday.
In his first game at the Moda Center, Lillard watched the rebuilding Blazers with emotion as the Milwaukee Bucks lost 119-116.
Of course they were. Embrace And Courtesy video Recognizing the contributions of Lillard, the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer. Coming off his Rookie of the Year campaign to emerge as the new face of the franchise for all the Dame Time™ Game winners, it would take a fairly serious trade fight for Lillard to be unwelcome in Portland.
Blazers fans gave him a minute-long standing ovation when he was introduced:
Lillard landed with the Bucks after his future interests began to diverge from the Blazers, who went 33-49 last season and chose to use the No. 3 overall draft pick on a young point guard in Scoot Henderson. Lillard was widely expected to form a super duo with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Bucks’ season has been a mixed bag.
The team’s record is 32-16, yes, but significant defensive issues led the team to fire head coach Adrian Griffin and return Doc Rivers to the coaching ranks after half a season with ESPN.
Wednesday was Rivers’ second game as head coach and the Bucs still seem to have some aches and pains to play against the 15-33 Blazers. It wasn’t his best game, as Lillard finished with 25 points on 9-of-23 shooting (3-of-13 from 3-point range), seven assists, six rebounds and four turnovers.
The Bucs were able to erase a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, but Anfernee Simmons hit the game-winner to give the home crowd a satisfying victory.
Simmons scored 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting with five assists and three rebounds.