Longtime former Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard faced his old team for the first time with the Bucks on Sunday. Milwaukee won, 108-102. Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian writes that, ahead of the game at least, Lillard wasn’t sweating the meeting.
“I thought I would be anticipating more but I’m not really caught up into it,” Lillard said. “I think it’ll be something that I think about more when we go back to Portland. But them coming here, it just feels like another game where I’m gonna see people that I used to spend a lot of time with. The team is really different.”
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Trail Blazers starting shooting guard Anfernee Simons has been sidelined with a thumb injury, but remains an active leader with Portland even while not playing, writes Fentress in a separate piece. “It was definitely frustrating, obviously, seeing your team struggle a little bit and not being able to pull out close games,” Simons said. “Those are the times where you kind of get, you know, I wouldn’t say frustrated, but you wish you could be out there for sure, especially in those tough games.” Head coach Chauncey Billups elaborated on how Simons continues to help the struggling team. “He’s leading still and talking still and helping guys still. He’s just itching to get back out here and help.”
- The Timberwolves are hoping their bench’s offense can find a spark, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Minnesota’s reserves are struggling to score consistently. “I don’t think we’ve had enough punch off the bench in general,” head coach Chris Finch said. “Something that’s been kind of up and down for us is our bench production… Right now we’re struggling a little bit with it.” Backup combo guard Shake Milton has been particularly disappointing, Krawczynski notes.
- Nuggets All-NBA center Nikola Jokic is growing frustrated with what he sees as some generous refereeing with regards to his physical defenders, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “That’s normal,” Jokic told Durando of the lack of ref whistles for players covering him. “Seems like some guys are getting more beneficial calls. Some guys are not. And that’s normal. And some guys can say a little bit more. Some guys can’t. And that’s normal. I accept it.”