Spirited Trail Blazers performance leads to victory over Lillard and Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard missed a lopsided three-pointer 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-balance shot with the Bucks down by 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 moment. 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 might have fouled Simons.

“When I got up, it felt good coming out of my hands,” Lillard said. “I actually thought it was going in. And I felt him beat my legs. So I thought if this could be a four-point game, it could be a 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 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 left 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 finish 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 fair 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 range.

Lillard got hot and scored 10 points in the first quarter to lead the Bucks to a 31-28 advantage. But he went scoreless in the second quarter, outscored 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 did not have an offensive rebound.

The Blazers continued to play 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 that was capped by Ryan Rollins, who stole the ball from Deni Avdija and scored 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.

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

Billups praised his team for outscoring 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 allows you to get out there and try to get shots up.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

The Blazers (12-22) moved to 1-1 on their five-game road 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

Blazers play Monday at 16.00 at Detroit Pistons (17-18).

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