Spirited Trail Blazers performance leads to win over Lillard and Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard missed a leaning three-point shot as time expired Saturday night, resulting in a 105-102 victory for his former team, the Portland Trail Blazers.

Anfernee Simons defended Lillard on the play, forcing his mentor to take an off-balanced shot with the Bucks down three.

“I didn’t like Dame getting his shot off at the end of the game,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters at the Fiserv Forum. “Of course, my heart stopped for a second. I’ve seen that movie way too many times.”

Lillard told reporters he thought the shot had a chance to go in and that he could have drawn a foul on Simons.

“When I rose up it felt good coming out of my hands,” Lillard said. “I actually thought it was going to go in. And I felt him hit my legs. So, I was like, if this could be a four-point play, this might be game.”

Moments earlier, Simons, who led the Blazers with 28 points (23 in the second half), scored on a drive to the basket, was fouled and converted the three-point play to put his team up 103-102 with 23 seconds on the clock.

On the Bucks’ next play, Lillard dribbled toward the top of the key before attempting to pass out to Bobby Portis in the left corner. However, Portis had already started moving toward the basket, resulting in Lillard’s pass going out of bounds and into the Bucks’ bench with eight seconds remaining.

The Bucks fouled Simons with 5.4 seconds to go and he converted both free throws to push Portland’s lead to 105-102, leading to Lillard’s final shot.

“What a win for our guys,” Billups said.

Lillard, often guarded by Blazers forward Toumani Camara, shot just 5 of 15 from the field and 2 of 7 on threes to end up with 16 points.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 31 points and 11 rebounds.

Deni Avdija scored 19 points with 14 rebounds but committed seven turnovers. Shaedon Sharpe added 16 points.

The Blazers committed 18 turnovers but shot 48.2% from the field and a reasonable 36.1% from three-point range. Those numbers stood up because Portland’s defense held the Bucks to 43.2% shooting, including 31.7% from long distance.

Lillard came hot, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to lead the Bucks to a 31-28 advantage. But he went scoreless in the second quarter, won 26-20 by the Blazers to take a 54-51 halftime lead despite committing 10 turnovers. The Blazers had eight second-chance points on five offensive rebounds compared to zero second-chance points for the Bucks, who had not one offensive rebound.

The Blazers continued playing well in the third quarter, building a nine-point lead thanks in part to Simons’ 11 points in the quarter.

However, the Bucks ended the quarter with a run capped by Ryan Rollins stealing the ball from Deni Avdija and scoring on a layup at the buzzer to trim the Blazers’ lead to 76-75.

The Blazers built a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Bucks came back again.

Antetokounmpo made two free throws to give the Blazers a 102-100 lead with 32 seconds remaining, leading to Simons’ go-ahead three-point play.

Billups praised his team for outrebounding the Bucks 55-43. The Blazers entered the night averaging 43 rebounds per game (22nd in the NBA)

“I thought our rebounding was elite and high-level today,” Billups said. “We did a really, really good job on the glass, which gives you an opportunity to get out there and try to get shots up.”

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (12-22) moved to 1-1 on their five-game trip and 2-1 all-time against their former superstar Damian Lillard.

The Bucks (17-16) have lost four of their last five games.

NEXT UP

The Blazers play at 5 p.m. Monday at the Detroit Pistons (17-18).

— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)