Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers were eliminated by Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors for the second consecutive season on Monday night.
Despite a 34 point and 6 rebound performance, Lillard couldn’t get his team over the hump.
Lillard could understandbly be frustrated with how things have ended for Portland the past two seasons, but instead of being bitter, he is looking at the Warriors and looking at how to get better.
During his post-game press conference, a very gracious Lillard answered a question and delivered nothing but praise for Golden State, the consistency of the team and their cohesiveness of a group which is what the Trail Blazers star believes allows the Warriors to be a championship team.
You can check out Lillard’s brilliant quote on Golden State and their consistent success below, via The Mercury News:
Damian Lillard on the Warriors pic.twitter.com/D1rRmoEN0s
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 25, 2017
“They’re a championship team,” Lillard said. “Watching them and playing against them, it’s obvious. They’re very consistent, whether they’re up or down, they just continue to play. They continue to be who they are. They play loose. They play together. They have a great understanding of how to play the game. That’s hard to play against when you add that with the talent that they have.
“For us, we look at them and you don’t want to say do what they do, but you want to have that cohesiveness and that understanding and that effortless flow to the game. You want to have that and that trust that they have with each other. You want to have that with your team. And you also have to understand that if you ever want to get out of the West, you’re going to have to go through them. I understand that’s what it is.
“It’s always been that way in the NBA. I think about when the Pistons were just beating up on (Michael) Jordan and kicking his butt every year and he had to get through them if he wanted to get to where he wanted to go. That’s just what it is because they’re going to be there, they’re going to be there every year and we have to look at that and understand that we have to be better.
“We have to go get better and come back better as a group if we want to move past them.”
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