Damian Lillar detailed his exchange with Russell Westbroo in the Trail Blazers last game with the Rockets. What’s the history of this rivalry?
Damian Lillard has played for the Trail Blazers against Russell Westbrook in the Western Conference since 2012. But until 2019, their rivalry wasn’t documented so publicly.
During the 2019 regular season, Westbrook famously said to Dame ‘ I’ve been busting yo a** for years. ‘ Ironically, since Westbrook uttered those words, Dame has been the one doing the busting! In Dame’s early years Westbrook had the best of their matchup’s individually, but the game result’s had always been even till recently.
When breaking down the thirty games that they’ve played in total, Dame has 16 wins and Russ has 14. But more importantly, Dame has won five of the last six.
It’s hard to tell why Russ feels so aggravated at Dame. In every incident between the two rivals, Russ is the aggressor. The documented incidents include kicking the ball away, then shoving Dame when he was confronted by him. In the playoffs last year, Dame was playing physical defense, Russ flopped and then tried to make a massive deal out of it.
Russ then famously did the ‘ cradling the baby ‘ celebration in last year’s playoff matchup with the Blazers when he was still was playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Russ’ egging his teammates on to talk trash the Blazers during a four-one series drubbing was a terrible look.
We all knew what happened at the end of the series. After Russ taunted Dame all series, Dame hit one of the biggest shots in playoff history to send the Thunder into rebuild mode. He famously waved goodbye to the Thunder as the crowd went wild.
Russ is a first ballot hall-of-famer and an all-time great player, but he hasn’t been able to back up his trash talking as he has gone out in the first round of the playoffs for three straight years.
In contrast, Dame isn’t a big talker, but Jason Quick of the Athletic was able to get some gold from him in a recent interview.
When asked about the last incident in the bitter rivals most recent matchup, Russ was doing his usual tough guy impression when his team was down by 14. They argued over his free throw percentage when Russ was at the line, Russ saying ‘ where are you seeded in the playoff race? ‘
Dame then ended the conversation with ‘ I’m the last person you want to see in the playoffs. ‘
Russ may have dominated the early years of this matchup, but Dame has come back with a vengeance, and he is now regarded as the better player of the two.
They probably won’t matchup in the postseason this year, but they are still to matchup again this regular season. Dame clearly has some real estate in Russ’ head and just needs to be himself to continue dominating his point guard rival. His exceptional scoring has been the factor that’s got under Russ’ skin. The late January matchup will be another chance for these fiery rivals to go at it.