The young Blazers walked away with a thrilling win on an emotional night.
Portland Trail Blazers fans certainly got their money’s worth on Wednesday night.
Blazers legend Damian Lillard, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and the player that has embraced Portland more than any other in the team’s more than 50-year history, made his first return to Moda Center since being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason.
With the emotion of the return, and the fact that this game was the young Blazers’ only national TV appearance of the season, it would be easy to expect a team that came into Wednesday’s game at 14-33 to roll over against Milwaukee.
But the Blazers came out scrappy, connected, and intense on both sides of the ball. Never letting up and managing to make a big shot or defensive stand every time the Bucks made a second-half push, Portland walked away with the 119-116 win over Lillard and the Bucks.
After the game, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was impressed by the way his team performed in such an electric atmosphere.
Said Billups, “I thought it was just, the atmosphere was awesome obviously. We knew that would be the case. I just thought the moment wasn’t too big for our team. We just played so hard. We played together and we continue to get better just playing for each other. We didn’t come unraveled; you know, at the end, we had a lot of miscommunication in that fourth quarter that we’ve got to clean up defensively. But man, even when we did, we just stayed together. No finger pointing. Nobody hanging their head. We just stayed together. And I just think we’re learning so much, the only way we can truly compete is if we do it together.”
Blazers rookie Scoot Henderson, subject of much scrutiny this season from the national talking heads, outplayed Lillard in the first half, scoring 15 points on 6-9 shooting in the first two quarters, including a reverse dunk and fearlessly driving the ball into the chest of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Fellow rookie Toumani Camara took three charges in the second half, helping to set the tone on a night when the Blazers needed every possession to count if they were to come away victorious.
The Blazers have now won two straight games after beating the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Up next for Portland – they play two games in Denver against the defending champion Nuggets on Friday and Sunday.
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