Damian Lillard

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Casey Holdahl

PORTLAND -- The Portland Trail Blazers were great hosts for Damian Lillard’s return to Portland, but hospitality has its limits.

The fans at Moda Center gave Lillard multiple standing ovations and the Trail Blazers played two tribute videos celebrating his 11 seasons in Portland, but that’s where the niceties would end, with Portland coming away with the 119-116 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 19,335 Wednesday night at Moda Center.

“The atmosphere was awesome, obviously, we knew that would be the case,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “I just didn’t think the moment was too big for our team. We just played so hard, we played together, we continue to get better just playing for each other. We didn’t come unraveled at the end -- we had a lot of miscommunication in that fourth quarter that we’ve got to clean up defensively -- but even when we did, we just stayed together.”

The Trail Blazers are now 15-33 overall and 9-13 at home this season. Portland has now won consecutive games for just the fourth time this season and split the series versus Milwaukee 1-1.

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Portland Trail Blazers 119, Milwaukee Bucks 116 | Game Highlights | Jan 31, 2024

“It was a fun night, celebrate a great player, a great person,” said Anfernee Simons. “We came in here like, we got stuff we want to accomplish as well, we coming in wanting to win a game. So we took a moment to celebrate (Lillard) but at the same time we wanted to win a basketball game. That was the message coming in and I think we executed that perfectly.”

Emotions at Moda Center were high Thursday night, with Lillard’s return to Portland living up to its billing as one of the biggest games, if not the biggest, of the season in Rip City. The 6-3 guard in his 12th season out of Weber State was cheered on during warmups, introductions and most of the times he touched the ball in the first half of Thursday’s contest.

And that excess energy in the building led to arguably the best game of the season thus far at Moda Center. Neither team led by more than 10, the game was tied 12 times and the lead changed hands on 14 occasions, belying the competitive, back-and-forth nature of Wednesday’s contest.

There was Scoot Henderson turning in one of his better halves of his rookie season. And Toumani Camara drawing multiple charges on Giannis Antetokounmpo and picking up Lillard full-court on multiple occasions. And Jerami Grant making circus shots, Deandre Ayton holding down the paint on both sides of the ball and Duop Reath showing an emerging offensive repertoire.

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Chauncey Billups Postgame Interview | Portland Trail Blazers 119, Milwaukee Bucks 116

But it was only right that the game come down to the very end, where Lillard was known as doing his best work. But it would be Anfernee Simons, Lillard’s protégé during his time in Portland, making a late play that would secure the win.

After turning the ball over in the backcourt, a mistake that resulted in Lillard finding Antetokounmpo for a dunk to give the Bucks a one-point lead with 37.2 seconds to play. But on the next possession, Simons got into the middle of the court with perfecting executed eurostep and finished with a right-handed floater to reclaim the lead, albeit by the slimmest of margins.

“What I love about Ant… his memory, he don’t hold on to turnovers," said Billups. “Gave up a big, big backdoor layup when the defense was late in the fourth quarter, didn’t hang his head, he understood, he was mad at himself, didn’t have to get on him. And then the turnover in the backcourt, he just kept going… I was really happy for Ant, I thought he had a good game all-around.”

On the next possession, the Blazers managed to run Lillard off the three-point line, though he found Brook Lopez open in a similar position. But Camara closed out hard to the Bucks center, forcing him to pumpfake, take a side step, then fire off a three that missed the mark.

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Anfernee Simons Postgame Interview | Portland Trail Blazers 119, Milwaukee Bucks 116

Malcolm Brogdon would rebound the miss and was subsequently fouled. The Bucks had to foul again to send Jerami Grant to the line, who would make two free throws to put Portland up three with 4.1 seconds to play. Milwaukee would inbound the ball to Antetokounmpo, and since they were up three, Portland fouled immediately to send the former MVP to the free throw line. He would miss both shots and Brogdon would once again secure the rebound, but this time as time expired on the three-point win.

Simons led Portland with 24 points to go with five assists and three rebounds in 38 minutes. Deandre Ayton turned in a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds while also logging an assist, a steal and a block in 35 minutes.

Jerami Grant finished with 18 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Malcolm Brogdon added 14 points, six assists, and six rebounds. Scoot Henderson came off the bench for 15 points and four assists in 22 minutes, and Duop Reath added 10 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.

Lillard went 9-of-23 for 25 points, seven assists, six rebounds and a steal in 39 minutes. Antetokounmpo went for 27 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Khris Middleton finished with 21 points and eight assists and Brook Lopez added 19 points.

Next up, the Trail Blazers head to Denver to play two consecutive games versus the defending champs starting with a Friday tilt at Ball Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Simons Closes Out Bucks In Lillard's Return To Portland

Portland Trail Blazers

Humility. Impact. Respect. Thank you for all you've done, Dame.

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Thank you, Dame | January 31, 2024

Rip City welcomes back Damian Lillard with a tribute video of his career accolades.

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Welcome Back, Dame | January 31, 2024

porjwilliamson

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Damian Lillard Pregame Interview | Portland Trail Blazers vs. Milwaukee Bucks | January 31, 2024

Greetings from North Portland. We're just a few hours away from seeing Damian Lillard take the floor at Moda Center for the first time as a Milwaukee Buck (also possible you're reading this after that, which in that case, greetings from the not-to-distant past), but in preparation for that event, consider listening to Dame discuss coming home on the 77th edition of The Brief Case podcast...

• Chauncey Billups' comments regarding Damian Lillard's return to Portland with the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night

• Portland's recent play in a loss to the Bulls and a win versus the 76ers

• Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson being invited to play in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend (and why Duop Reath SHOULD get an invite if Sharpe can't play)

• An injury update on Shaedon Sharpe, who has missed the last two weeks with an abdominal strain&nbsp;

• The Trail Blazers being back down to 13 players with Taze Moore's 10-day expiring

• Slight improvements to Portland's offensive and defensive ratings

• The Trail Blazers' 1-2 week versus the spread

And the show ends with an interview with Dame, my good friend and former coworker, regarding the response from the community to his return, coming back to not just the city, but his home, his first few months in Milwaukee and what is next for the future Hall of Famer.&nbsp;

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on&nbsp;Apple Podcasts,&nbsp;Spotify,&nbsp;IHeartRadio,&nbsp;Amazon Music,&nbsp;TuneIn,&nbsp;Podcast Addict,&nbsp;Podchaser,&nbsp;Pocket Casts,&nbsp;Deezer,&nbsp;PlayerFM.&nbsp;

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Dame Discusses His Return On The Brief Case

Greetings from North Portland. With the busy week between a back-to-back, the return of Damian Lillard to Portland and a series of games this weekend versus the Nuggets in Denver, we had to care out time on a game day to record the 111th edition of The Blazers Balcony podcast, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

On this edition, Brooke Olzendam, she of Trail Blazers TV, and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com, discuss...

• The Trail Blazers returning from a 4-game road trip with a 1-3 record

• Sunday night's loss to the Bulls and Monday's game versus the 76ers&nbsp;

• The return of Damian Lillard to Moda Center for Wednesday's game versus the Milwaukee Bucks

• Gearing up for "Brooke Hearts Your Heart" next month

You can subscribe to the Blazers Balcony on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Deezer, Spotify, I Heart Radio,  Pocket Casts and Pandora. 

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Deandre's Play And Dame's Return On The Blazers Balcony podcast

While it probably doesn’t qualify as history, something which has never happened before will take place Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee.

For the first time in his 11 NBA season, Damian Lillard will face of against the Trail Blazers rather than suiting up for the team that drafted him with the sixth overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. Now with the Milwaukee Bucks after requesting a trade prior to the start of the 2022-24 season, Lillard won’t play against many former teammates -- Anfernee Simons is the only player on the Trail Blazers’ roster who played more than one season with Lillard, and he won’t be in uniform Sunday due to injury -- when Portland starts a four-game trip versus the Bucks, but he’s played 783 games in his NBA career and not one of those has been the Trail Blazers. That’s rather uncommon in the modern NBA.

Of course, Lillard’s first return to Moda Center on January 31, 2024 will be much more of an event than Sunday’s tilt at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, but it’s one thing to see a former player suit up for another team and it’s another to see that player line up against his former team.

So here’s what head coach Chauncey Billups, who led the team during Lillard last two seasons in Portland, Jerami Grant, who was brought to Portland, in large part, due to his relationship with Lillard, and Anfernee Simons, who was mentored by Lillard during his first five seasons with the Trail Blazers, had to say about Portland playing their first game against the 6-3 point guard in his 12th season out of Weber State

"It’ll be fun man, fun to see him. I think I’ve watched probably two or three of their games so far. Just going to be fun to have him out there, obviously it’ll be weird man, to be playing against Dame. It’s just weird game planning against him having coached him for a few year. Pretty sure for most of our guys, it’ll be weird for them, too but it’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to it. it’ll be a good time."

"It will probably be more (of an event) when he’s here, I would guess, but yeah, he’ll be up for it. He’s can control his emotions better than most people do. I’m sure he’ll want to play very well and do good and show well, so I’m sure he’ll be pumped up. It’s his first time in his whole career having this type of situation."

"It should be a good one. We know the type of team that they have, championship-caliber team, so we’ve got to come out ready to play. Definitely going to be a lot of emotions for the organization, obviously, playing against Dame and everything but we’ve got to come out and do what we need to to try and get the win."

"It’s still good. "He wants to win, he’s a winner, so he brought me here to try to win. I’ll always respect that, still got a good friendship, so yeah… Still friends but at the same time, at the end of the day we’ve got to come out and try to get the win. We’ll talk a little bit before the game, little after the game but during t he game we’ve got to lock in."

"It’ll probably be different, for sure, when I play against him for the first time. I watch enough Milwaukee games to get used to him being in a Bucks uniform. Every chance I’ll watch Bucks games, catch the Bucks games, see what they up to. The only thing that will feel different is when I actually play against him for the first time. I’d say that will be the craziest part."

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Lillard's Former Coach, Teammates Discuss His First Game Versus Portland

Greetings from Santa Barbara, where the new-look Trail Blazers are holding their 2023 training camp. Both Brooke Olzendam, she of Trail Blazers TV, and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com, are here on California's coast to cover the fledgling days of Portland's 2023-24 season, but before turning our full attention to the future, we had to say some extended goodbyes on the latest edition of The Blazers Balcony podcast...

As you can likely surmise, this, our 98th edition, covers...

• The trade sending Damian Lillard to Milwaukee and Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson to Phoenix in exchange for Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Jrue Holiday, a first round pick and multiple first round pick swaps• The trade sending Holiday to Boston in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III and two first round picks• The job that Joe Cronin and his staff did in putting the deals together despite difficult circumstances&nbsp;• Anfernee Simons coming into his own• Initial thoughts on Ayton, Brogdon, Williams III and Camara• The departures of Lillard, Nurkic, Little and Johnson and what each brought to the Trail Blazers both professionally and personally&nbsp;

While we're still getting to know the new players, we had quite a bit to say about those who have moved on, so this one clocks in around twice as long as usual. But if you want to hear what two people who probably spent more time covering those who have recently been traded, especially Dame and Nurk, than anyone else in the world, give it a listen. You can even break it up into two parts if you like, your call.

You can subscribe to the Blazers Balcony on&nbsp;Apple Podcasts,&nbsp;Amazon Music,&nbsp;Stitcher,&nbsp;TuneIn,&nbsp;Deezer,&nbsp;Spotify,&nbsp;I Heart Radio,&nbsp;&nbsp;Pocket Casts&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pandora.&nbsp;

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Fond Farewells And An Exciting Future On The Blazers Balcony

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